the miser and the spendthrift, The Mechanics of Virtue, Matt Berry, aphorism 119

119

One can choose to be wise instead of becoming rich, but one cannot choose to become and remain rich instead of becoming wise – because it takes wisdom to acquire wealth and to hold on to it.  Both the miser and the spendthrift do not gain that same acceleration of wealth that is optimized through moderation and prudence.

Now there are those of course who resolutely deny that a rich man can be wise, but this is only due to their resenting the possibility.  In the end, such moralists did not give up wealth for wisdom; they gave up wealth and wisdom.




A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism



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