“ It is a hard thing for a rich man to grow poor; but it is an awful thing for him to grow dishonest, and some kinds of speculation lead a man deep into dishonesty before he thinks what he is about. ”
George MacDonald, At the Back of the North Wind (1871). copy citation
| Author | George MacDonald |
|---|---|
| Source | At the Back of the North Wind |
| Topic | speculation thought |
| Date | 1871 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/225/225-h/225-h.htm |
Context
“Nor will my readers understand what a heavy loss this was to him until I have informed them that he had been getting poorer and poorer for some time. He was not so successful in his speculations as he had been, for he speculated a great deal more than was right, and it was time he should be pulled up. It is a hard thing for a rich man to grow poor; but it is an awful thing for him to grow dishonest, and some kinds of speculation lead a man deep into dishonesty before he thinks what he is about. Poverty will not make a man worthless—he may be worth a great deal more when he is poor than he was when he was rich; but dishonesty goes very far indeed to make a man of no value—a thing to be thrown out in the dust-hole of the creation, like a bit of a broken basin, or a dirty rag.”
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