I was determined not to remain poor.

I have tried to make all my acts and commercial moves the result of definite consideration and sound judgment. There were never any great ventures or risks. I practiced honest, slow-growing business methods, and tried to back them with energy and good system.

Freedom of the press and also of speech, assembly, and worship can persist as social forms and legal guarantees, while at the same time their functional realities can be gradually slipping away.

Those who enter to buy, support me. Those who come to flatter, please me. Those who complain, teach me how I may please others so that more will come. Those only hurt me who are displeased but do not complain. They refuse me permission to correct my errors and thus improve my service.

The greatest good [a man] can do is to cultivate himself in order that he may be of greater use to humanity.

Give the lady what she wants!

Beware of a misfit occupation. . . . Consider carefully your natural bent, whether for business or a profession.