Source identified
“Self-help is the best help.”
Asking for help does not replace the responsibility to make the effort that is already within one’s own power.
Source note: Moral printed after “Hercules and the Wagoner” in the Townsend translation; Hercules first tells the driver to help himself.
Source identified
“It works for to-day, but also provides for to-morrow.”
Good stewardship balances present needs with future obligations instead of treating either immediate enjoyment or distant security as the only concern.
Source note: Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence occurs in the same definition of thrift as an acquired principle of conduct: present enjoyment is subordinated to forethought so that action serves today while providing for tomorrow.
Source identified
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
Emerson attacks rigid consistency when it prevents people from revising judgment in the light of new thought.
Source note: Essay “Self-Reliance”; Emerson criticizes rigid adherence to past opinions when fresh judgment requires revision.
Source identified
“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as of getting.”
Voice: Authorial persona / framed maxim · Poor Richard maxim, repeated through Father Abraham
Income alone does not create financial security; keeping part of what is earned is presented as a necessary companion to earning it.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, Franklin’s compilation of Poor Richard maxims.
Source identified
“If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.”
Voice: Authorial persona / framed maxim · Poor Richard maxim, repeated through Father Abraham
Borrowing makes the cost and scarcity of money concrete, turning an abstract idea of value into an immediate obligation.
Source note: The Way to Wealth, in Franklin’s discussion of debt and credit.
Source identified
“Thrift is the basis of Self-Help, and the foundation of much that is excellent in Character.”
Thrift is presented as a habit of foresight that supports independence and creates room for more deliberate choices about work and resources.
Source note: Thrift, Preface, Project Gutenberg #14418. Smiles introduces the book as a sequel to Self-Help and Character and explicitly says thrift is the basis of Self-Help and the foundation of much that is excellent in Character.