The Cost of Whistles – Living Successfully

I love reading old books and stories about early pioneers in business. I came across the following article in a little pocket-sized publication series from the 1940’s, titled “The Art of Living Successfully”.

I believe that “There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know”, as Ambrose Bierce once said (click the link for some great quotes and ideas at Amazon). So by studying the past, we can learn to live better in the present and set ourselves up for a better future.

Manage Debt by Spending Better

The hero in our story is Benjamin Franklin – one of the wealthiest and shrewdest businessmen who ever lived. And what I love most about Benjamin Franklin is that he earned the majority of his wealth by sharing with people how to become wealthy – my kind of guy! So, here’s the story. Enjoy!

Among the trinkets offered by a peddler at a fair was a whistle which caught the attention of young Benjamin, and which he coveted. He resisted the temptation for some time; eventually giving way he bought the whistle, paying a price in excess of its value.

In later years the memory of that transaction brought forth this sage observation:

“I conceive that a great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistles.”

This bit of wisdom holds good for today. A sense of values is essential to the proper conduct of business and personal affairs.

Overpriced pleasures and wasteful delights are to be counted among the costly whistles. Often their price is far out of proportion to the amount of permanent good they produce and contribute to human welfare. Anything is costly, no matter what its price, if it purchases nothing of importance or worth to human character and the power of personality.

If the price of our whistles are high and the use of the whistle small, the transaction is poor and the person poorer – today even as in the day of Benjamin Franklin.”

- from “The Art of Living Successfully” – April 1941

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