the gold lender of babylon

more from the richest man in babylon
by george s. clason

“The safest loans, my token box tells me, are to those whose possessions are of more value than the one they desire…On loans like those I am assured that my gold will be returned with the rental thereon, for the load in based on property…In another class are those who have the capacity to earn. They are such as you, who labor or serve and are paid…I know that hey also can repay the gold I loan them and the rental o which I am entitled. Such loans are based on human effort…Others are those who have neither property nor assured earning capacity…Alas for the loans I make them, even though they be no larger than a pence, my token box may censure me in the years to come unless they be guaranteed by good friend of the borrower who know him honorable.” [p.79]

“…humans in the throes of great emotions are not safe risks for the gold lender.” [p.80]

“Youth is ambitious. Youth would take short cuts to wealth and the desirable things for which it stands. To secure wealth quickly youth often borrows unwisely. Youth, never having had experience, cannot realize that hopeless debt is like a deep pit into which one may descend quickly and where one may struggle vainly for many days. It is a pit of sorrow and regrets where the brightness of the sun is overcast and night is made unhappy by restless sleeping.” [p.82-83]

when friends and family want a gift or want to borrow money: “What thy labor earns for thee and what is given thee for reward is thine own and no man can put an obligation upon thee to part with it unless it do be thy wish.” [p.84]

“Then be not swayed by foolish sentiments of obligation to trust thy treasure to any person. If thou wouldst help thy family or thy friends, find other ways than risking the loss of thy treasure. Forget not that gold slippeth away in unexpected ways from those unskilled in guarding it. As well waste thy treasure in extravagance as let others loose it for thee.” [p.87-88]

“It applies equally to the borrower and the lender:

Better a Little Caution Than a Great Regret

image: The Moneylender and his Wife by Quentin Matsys (1514)
Oil on panel, 71 x 68 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris