Achieving Prosperity - Ultimate Collection. Thorstein Veblen
all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4 Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5 Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6 Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7 Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8 Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9 Moderation. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10 Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11 Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12 Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13 Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judg'd it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone thro' the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arrang'd them with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improv'd in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place. This and the next, Order, I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies. Resolution, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses, daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the following method for conducting that examination.
I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day. I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.
Form of the pages.
TEMPERANCE.
eat not to dulness; drink not to elevation.
| S. | M. | T. | W. | T. | F. | S. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T. | |||||||
| S. | • | • | • | • | |||
| O. | •• | • | • | • | • | • | |
| R. | • | • | |||||
| F. | • | • | |||||
| I. | • | ||||||
| S. | |||||||
| J. | |||||||
| M. | |||||||
| C. | |||||||
| T. | |||||||
| C. | |||||||
| H. |
I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues successively. Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offence against Temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day. Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T, clear of spots, I suppos'd the habit