Hints as to Thriving
Charles Spurgeon · John Ploughman's Talk; or, Plain Advice for Plain People
" If the cat sits long enough at the hole she will catch the mouse."
Page 179.
HARD work is the grand secret of suc-
cess. Nothing but rags and poverty
can come of idleness. Elbow grease is the
(i73)
174 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
only stuff to make gold with. No sweat no
sweet. He who would have the crow's
eggs must climb the tree. Every man must
build up his own fortune nowadays. Shirt
sleeves rolled up lead on to best broad-
cloth ; and he who is not ashamed of the
apron will soon be able to do without it.
" Diligence is the mother of good luck," as
poor Richard says ; but " Idleness is the
devil's bolster," as John Ploughman says.
Believe in travelling on step by step ;
don't expect to be rich in a jump.
Great greediness to reap
Helps not the money heap.
Slow and sure is better than fast and flimsy.
Perseverance, by its daily gains, enriches a
man far more than fits and starts of fortunate
speculation. Little fishes are sweet. Every
little helps, as the sow said when she
snapped at a gnat. Every day a thread
makes a skein in a year. Brick by brick
houses are built. We should creep before
we walk, walk before we run, and run before
we ride. In getting rich the more haste
the worse speed. Haste trips up its own
heels. Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
HINTS AS TO THRIVING. 175
It is bad beginning business without cap-
ital. It is hard marketing with empty
pockets. We want a nest egg, for hens
will lay where there are eggs already. It is
true you must bake with the flour you have,
but if the sack is empty it might be quite as
well not to set up for a baker. Making
bricks without straw is easy enough compared
with making money when you have none
to start with. You, young gentleman, stay
as a journeyman a little longer, till you have
saved a few pounds; fly when your wings
have got feathers ; but if you try it too soon
you will be like the young rook that broke
its neck through trying to fly before it was
fledged. Every minnow wants to be a
whale, but it is prudent to be a little fish
while you have but little water ; when your
pond becomes the sea, then swell as much
as you like. Trading without capital is
like building a house without bricks, mak-
ing a fire without sticks, burning candles
without wicks ; it leads men into tricks, and
lands them in a fix.
Don't give up a small business till you
see that a large one will pay you better.
Even crumbs are bread.
176 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
Better a poor horse than an empty stall ;
Better half a loaf than none at all.
Better a little furniture than an empty house.
In these hard times he who can sit on a
stone and feed himself had better not move.
From bad to worse is poor improvement.
A crust is hard fare, but none at all is harder.
Don't jump out of the frying pan into the
fire. Remember, many men have done well
in very small shops. A little trade with
profit is better than a great concern at a loss ;
a small fire that warms you is better than a
large fire that burns you. A great deal of
water can be got from a small pipe if the
bucket is always there to catch it. Large
hares may be caught in small woods. A
sheep may get fat in a small meadow, and
starve in a great desert. He who under-
takes too much succeeds but little. Two
shops are like two stools, a man comes to
the ground between them. You may burst
a bag by trying to fill it too full, and ruin
yourself by grasping at too much.
In a great river great fish are found,
But take good heed lest you be drown* d.
HINTS AS TO THRIVING. 177
Make as few changes as you can ; trees
often transplanted bear little fruit. If you
have difficulties in one place you will have
them in another; if you move because it is
damp in the valley, you may find it cold on
the hill. Where will the ass go that he will
not have to work ? Where can a cow live
and not get milked ? Where will you find
land without stones, or meat without bones ?
Everywhere on earth men must eat bread
in the sweat of their faces. To fly from
trouble men must have eagles' wings. Al-
teration is not always improvement, as the
pigeon said when she got out of the net
and into the pie. There is a proper time
for changing, and then mind you bestir
yourself, for a sitting hen gets no barley;
but do not be forever on the shift, for a roll-
ing stone gathers no moss. Stick-to-it is
the conqueror. He who can wait long
enough will win. This, that, and the other,
anything, and everything, all put together
make nothing in the end ; but on one horse
a man rides home in due season. In one
place the seed grows, in one nest the bird
hatches its eggs, in one oven the bread
bakes, in one river the fish lives.
12
178 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
Do not be above your business. He who
turns up his nose at his work quarrels with
his bread and butter. He is a poor smith
who is afraid of his own sparks ; there's
some discomfort in all trades except chim-
ney-sweeping. If sailors gave up going to
sea because of the wet ; if bakers left off
baking because it is hot work ; if ploughmen
would not plough because of the cold, and
tailors would not make our clothes for fear
of pricking their fingers, what a pass we
should come to ! Nonsense, my fine fellow,
there's no shame about any honest calling ;
don't be afraid of soiling your hands, there's
plenty of soap to be had. All trades are
good to good traders. A clever man can
make money out of dirt. Lucifer matches
pay well if you sell enough of them.
Never mind the stink,
Sweets smells the chink.
You cannot get honey if you are fright-
ened at bees, nor sow corn if you are afraid of
getting mud on your boots. Lackadaisical
gentlemen had better emigrate to Fool's-
land, where men get their living by wearing
HINTS AS TO THRIVING, 179
shiny boots and lavender gloves. When
bars of iron melt under the south wind,
when you can dig the fields with tooth-picks,
blow ships along with fans, manure the
crops with lavender water, and grow plum-
cake in flowerpots, then will be a fine time
for dandies ; but until the Millennium comes
we shall all have a deal to put up with, and
had better bear our present burdens than
run helter-skelter where we shall find matters
a deal worse.
Plod is the word. Every one must row
with such oars as he has, and as he can't
choose the wind, he must sail by such as
God sends him. Patience and attention
will get on in the long run. If the cat sits
long enough at the hole she will catch the
mouse. Always-at-it grows good cabbage
and lettuce where others grow thistles. I
know as a ploughman that it is up and down,
up and down the field that ploughs the
acres; there's no getting over the ground
by a mile at a time. He who plods on, the
clods on, rods on rods will turn of the sods
while laziness nods.
Keep your weather eye open. Sleeping
poultry are carried off by the fox. Who
180 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
watches not catches not. Fools ask what's
o'clock, but wise men know their time.
Grind while the wind blows, or if not do
not blame providence. God sends every
bird its food, but he does not throw it into
the nest : he gives us our daily bread, but
it is through our own labor. Take time
by the forelock. Be up early and catch the
worm. The morning hour carries gold in
its mouth. He who drives last in the row
gets all the dust in his eyes ; rise early, and
you will have a clear start for the day.
Never try dirty dodges to make money.
It will never pay you to lick honey off of
thorns. An honest man will not make a
dog of himself for the sake of getting a
bone. It is hard to walk on the devil's ice ;
it is fine skating, but it ends in a heavy fall,
and worse. He needs have a long spoon
who would eat out of the same dish with
Satan. Never ruin your soul for the sake
of pelf: it is like drowning yourself in a
well to get a drink of water. Take nothing
in hand that may bring you repentance.
Better walk barefoot than ride in a carriage
to hell ; better that the bird starve than be
fattened for the spit. The mouse wins little
HINTS AS TO THRIVING. 181
by nibbling the cheese if it gets caught in
the trap. Clean money or none, mark that ;
for gain badly got will be an everlasting
loss.
A good article, full weight, and a fair
price bring customers to the shop, but peo-
ple do not recommend the shop where they
are cheated. Cheats never thrive ; or if
they do it must be in London, where they
catch chance customers enough to live by.
The long-bow man may hit the mark some-
times, but a fair shot is the best. A rogue's
purse is full of holes. He will have blisters
on his feet who wears stolen shoes. He
whose fingers are like lime-twigs will find
other things stick to them besides silver.
Steal eels and they will turn to snakes.
The more a fox robs the sooner he will be
hunted. If a rogue wants to make a good
trade he had better turn honest. If all you
aim at is profit, still deal uprightly, for it is
the most paying game.
Look most to your spending. No matter
what comes in, if more goes out you will
always be poor. The art is not in making
money, but in keeping it ; little expenses,
like mice in a barn, when they are many,
182 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
make great waste. Hair by hair heads get
bald. Straw by straw the thatch goes off
the cottage, and drop by drop the rain comes
into the chamber. A barrel is soon empty
if the tap leaks but a drop a minute.
Chickens will be plucked feather by feather
if the maid keeps at it ; small mites eat the
cheese ; little birds destroy a great deal of
wheat. When you mean to save, begin
with your mouth ; there are many thieves
down the red lane. The ale jug is a great
waster. In all other things keep within
compass. In clothes choose suitable and
lasting stuff, and not tawdry fineries. To
be warm is the main thing ; never mind the
looks. Never stretch your legs further
than your blankets will reach, or you will
soon be cold. A fool may make money, but
it needs a wise man to spend it. Remember
it is easier to build two chimneys than to
keep one going. If you give all to back
and board there is nothing left for the sav-
ings bank. Fare hard and work hard while
you are young, and you have a chance of
rest when you are old.
Never indulge in extravagance unless
you want to make a short cut to the work-
HINTS AS TO THRIVING. 183
house. Money has wings of its own, and
if you find it another pair of wings, wonder
not if it flies fast.
He that hath it, and will not keep it;
He that wants it, and will not seek it ;
He that drinks and is not dry,
Shall want money as well as I.
If our poor people could only see the
amount of money which they melt away in
drink their hair would stand on end with
fright. Why, they swallow rivers of beer,
and seas of porter, and great big lakes of
spirits and other fire-waters. We should
all be clothed like gentlemen and live like
fighting-cocks if what is wasted on fuddle
could be sensibly used. We should need
to get up earlier in the morning to spend
all our money, for we should find ourselves
suddenly made quite rich, and all that
through stopping the drip of the tap. At
any rate, you young people who want to
get on in the world must make a point of
dropping your half-pints, and settle in your
spirits that no spirits shall ever settle you.
Have your luxuries, if you must have them,
after you have made your fortunes, but just
now look after your bread and cheese.
1 84 JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK.
Pray excuse me for spinning this long
yarn, for as I pulled it came. My talk
seems like the Irishman's rope which he
could not get into the ship because some-
body had cut the end off. I only want to
say, do not be greedy, for covetousness is
always poor: still strive to get on, for pov-
erty is no virtue, and to rise in the world is
to a man's credit as well as his comfort.
Earn all you can, save all you can, and then
give all you can. Never try to save out of
God's cause ; such money will canker the
rest. Giving to God is no loss ; it is put-
ting your substance into the best bank.
Giving is true having, as the old grave-stone
said of the dead man, u What I spent I had,
what I saved I lost, what I gave I have."
The pockets of the poor are safe lockers,
and it is always a good investment to lend
to the Lord. John Ploughman wishes all
young beginners long life and prosperity.
Sufficient of wealth,
And abundant health,
Long years of content,
And when life is spent
A mansion with God in glory.