The Richest Man in Babylon: The Five Laws of Gold

On the last night of a long desert journey, an old camel trader named Kalabab offered his workers a choice: “A bag heavy with gold, or a clay tablet carved with words of wisdom?”“The gold!” they all cried, so he told them the story of Arkad’s son, Nomasir.

When Nomasir became a young man, Arkad gave him two things: a bag of gold and a clay tablet carved with the five laws of gold.“Come back in ten years,” he said, “and show me that you can handle wealth wisely.”Nomasir lost much of his gold betting on a horse race set up by two cheats, and the rest in a shop with a foolish partner.Poor and hungry, he finally read his father’s tablet carefully.

First, gold comes gladly to anyone who saves at least a tenth of their earnings for the future of their family.Second, gold works hard for the wise owner who finds it profitable work, and it multiplies like flocks in the field.Third, gold stays with the careful owner who invests it on the advice of people who understand it.Fourth, gold slips away from anyone who invests in a business they do not understand.Fifth, gold runs away from anyone who demands impossible profits or follows the advice of tricksters.

Nomasir found a job, saved a little from every wage, and invested it with a group of careful, experienced men.Ten years later he returned and set three heavy bags of gold before his father.“One bag repays the gold you gave me,” he said. “The other two are for the tablet, because your wisdom was worth far more than your gold.”Wealth that comes quickly, Kalabab told his men, goes away the same way.