A Verse Digest of P. T. Barnum’s The Art of Money Getting (1880)
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PRESERVE YOUR INTEGRITY
it is more precious than diamonds or rubies
old miser said to his sons:
get money
get it honestly
if you can
but get money
poor fool
our prisons are full of men who
attempted to follow this advice
no man can be dishonest
without soon being found out
the public very properly shun
all whose integrity is doubted
no matter how polite and pleasant
none of us dare to deal with a man
if we suspect false weights and measures
strict honesty lies at the foundation of all success
a man known to be strictly honest may be ever poor
but he has the purses of all the community
the maxim of Franklin
can never fail to be true:
honesty is the best policy
the history of money-getting is commerce
wherever trade has flourished most
art and science produced the noblest fruits
money-getters are the benefactors of our race
to them are we indebted for our institutions
sometimes misers hoard money for the sake of hoarding
and grasp everything which comes within their reach
as we have hypocrites in religion and demagogues in politics
so there are occasionally misers among money-getters
these however are exceptions to the rule
remember that in America
we have no laws of primogeniture
and in the due course of nature
hoarded dust will be scattered
for the benefit of mankind
to all men and women
do I conscientiously say
make money honestly
and not otherwise
for Shakespeare truly said:
he that wants money, means, and content
is without three good friends
Money Getting Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV, Part XV, Part XVI, Part XVII, Part XVIII, Part XIX, Part XX, Part XXI, Part XXII
