Prosperity rests upon a moral foundation.

It is popularly
supposed to rest upon an immoral foundation - that is, upon
trickery, sharp practice, deception and greed. One commonly
hears even an otherwise intelligent man declare that “No man
can be successful in business unless he is dishonest,” thus
regarding business prosperity – a good thing – as the effect of
Introduction dishonesty – a bad thing.

Energy is a moral virtue, its opposing vice being laziness. As

a virtue, it can be cultivated, and the lazy man can become
energetic by forcibly arousing himself to exertion.
Promptitude is valuable possession. It begets reliability.
People who are alert, prompt, and punctual are relied upon.
They can be trusted to do their duty, and to do it vigorously
1. Promptitude and well.
Vigilance is the guard of all the faculties and powers of the
mind. It is the detective that prevents the entrance of any
violent and destructive element. It is the close companion and
protector of all success, liberty, and wisdom. Without this
First pillar – Energy watchful attitude of mind, a man is a fool, and there is no
2. Vigilance prosperity for a fool.
Industry brings cheerfulness and plenty. Vigorously
industrious people are the happiest members of the
community. They are not always the richest, if by riches is
meant a superfluity of money; but they are always the most
But energy is a composite power. It does not stand alone. lighthearted and joyful, and the most satisfied with what they
Involved in it are qualities which go to the making of vigorous do and have, and are therefore the richer, if by richer we
character and the production of prosperity. Mainly, these mean more abundantly blessed.
qualities are contained in the four following characteristics People who make themselves useful to the community,
3. Industry receive back from the community their full share of health,
happiness, and prosperity. They brighten the daily task, and
keep the world moving. They are the gold of the nation and
the salt of the earth.
“Earnestness”, said a Great Teacher, “is the path of
immortality. They who are in earnest do not die; they who are
not in earnest are as if dead already”. Earnestness is the
dedication of the entire mind to its task. We live only in what
we do. Earnest people are dissatisfied with anything short of
the highest excellence in whatever they do, and they always
reach that excellence.
What ever you are – whether shopkeeper or saintly teacher
you can safely give the very best to the world without any
4. Earnestness doubt or misgiving. If the indelible impress of your
earnestness be on your goods in the one case, or on your
words in the other, your business will flourish, or your
precepts will live.

Nature destroys every foulness, not by annihilation, but by

transmutation, by sweetening and purifying it, and making it
serve the ends of things beautiful, useful and good.
Moderation is the strong core of economy. It avoids extremes,
finding the middle way in all things. It also consists in
abstaining from the unnecessary and the harmful. There can
be no such things as moderation in that which is evil, for that
1. Moderation would be excess.
Efficiency proceeds from the right conservation of one’s
forces and powers. All skill is the use of concentrated energy.
Superior skill, as talent and genius, is a higher degree of
Second pillar – Economy
concentrated force. Men are always skillful in that which they
love, because the mind is almost ceaselessly centered upon
it. Skill is the result of that mental economy which transmutes
2. Efficiency thought into invention and action.
Resourcefulness is the outcome of efficiency. It is an important
element in prosperity, for the resourceful man is never
confounded. He may have many falls, but he will always be
equal to the occasion, and will be on his feet again
The Pillar of Economy, when soundly built, will be found to be immediately. Resourcefulness has its fundamental cause in
composed largely of these four qualities: the conservation of energy. It is energy transmuted. When a
man cuts off certain mental or bodily vices which have been
depleting him of his energy, what becomes of the energy so
conserved? It is not destroyed or lost, for energy can never be
destroyed or lost. It becomes productive energy. It reappears
in the form of fruitful thought. The virtuous man is always more
successful than the vicious man because he is teeming with
3. Resourcefulness resources.
Originality is resourcefulness ripened and perfected. Where
there is originality there is genius, and men of genius are the
lights of the world. Whatever work a man does, he should fall
back upon his own resources in the doing it. While learning
from others, he should not slavishly imitate them, but should
4. Originality put himself into his work, and so make it new and original.

The man that courts prosperity must, in all his transactions,

whether material or mental, study how to give a just return for
that which he receives.
Honesty is the surest way to success. The day at last comes
when the dishonest man repents in sorrow and suffering: but
not man ever needs to repent of having been honest. Even
when the honest man fails – as he does sometimes, through
lacking other of these pillars, such as energy, economy, or
system his failure is not the grievous thing it is to the
dishonest man, for he can always rejoice in the fact that he
Third pillar – Integrity has never defrauded a fellow being. Even in his darkest hour
1. Honesty he finds repose in a clear conscience.
Fearlessness accompanies honesty. The honest man has a
clear eye and an unflinching gaze. He looks his fellowmen in
the face, and his speech is direct and convincing. The liar and
cheat hangs his head; his eye is muddy and his gaze oblique.
He cannot look another man in the eye, and his speech
The Pillar of Integrity is held together by these four virile 2. Fearlessness arouses mistrust, for it is ambiguous and unconvincing.
elements: Purposefulness is the direct outcome of that strength of
character which integrity fosters. The man of integrity is the
3. Purposefulness man of direct aims and strong and intelligent purposes.
Invincibility is a glorious protector, but it only envelopes the
man whose integrity is perfectly pure and unassailable. Never
to violate, even in the most insignificant particular, the
principle of integrity, is to be invincible against all the assaults
4. Invincibility of innuendo, slander, and misrepresentation.

System is that principle of order by which confusion is

rendered impossible. In the natural and universal order
everything is in its place, so that the vast universe runs more
perfectly than the most perfect machine. Disorder in space
would mean the destruction of the universe; and disorder in a
man’s affairs destroys his work and his prosperity.

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 System is that principle of order by which confusion is
rendered impossible. In the natural and universal order
everything is in its place, so that the vast universe runs more
perfectly than the most perfect machine. Disorder in space
would mean the destruction of the universe; and disorder in a
man’s affairs destroys his work and his prosperity.
Readiness is aliveness. It is that spirit of alertness by which a
situation is immediately grasped and dealt with. The
observance of system fosters and develops this spirit. The
successful General must have the power of readily meeting
any new and unlooked for move on the part of the enemy; so
every business man must have the readiness to deal with any
Eight Pillars of Prosperity unexpected development affecting his line of trade; and so
James Allen also must the man of thought be able to deal with the details
Fourth pillar – System 1. Readiness of any new problems which may arise.
Accuracy is of supreme importance in all commercial
concerns and enterprises, but there can be no accuracy apart
from system, and a system which is more or less imperfect
will involve its originator in mistakes more or less disastrous
2. Accuracy until he improves it.
Utility or usefulness, is the direct result of method in one’s
work. Labour arrives at fruitful and profitable ends when it is
systematically pursued. If the gardener is to gather in the best
In system is contained these four ingredients: produce, he must not only sow and plant, but he must sow
and plant at the right time; and if any work is to be fruitful in
results, it must be done seasonably, and the time for doing a
3. Utility thing must not be allowed to pass by.
Comprehensiveness is that quality of mind which enables a
man to deal with a large number of related details, to grasp
them in their entirety, along with the single principle which
governs them and binds them together. It is a masterly quality,
giving organizing and governing power, and is developed by
4. Comprehensiveness systematic attention to details.

Sympathy is a deep, silent, inexpressible tenderness which is

shown in a consistently self forgetful gentle character.
Sympathetic people are not gushing and spasmodic, but are
permanently self restrained, firm, quiet, unassuming and
gracious. Lack of sympathy arises in egotism; sympathy
arises in love. Egotism is involved in ignorance; love is allied
to knowledge.
Kindness, when fully developed, is not a passing impulse but
a permanent quality.
1. Kindness A true kindness is unchangeable, and needs no external
stimulus to force it into action.
Generosity goes with a larger hearted kindness. If kindness
be the gentle sister, Generosity is the strong brother. A free,
open handed, and magnanimous character is always
2. Generosity attractive and influential.
Fourfold are the qualities which make up the great virtue of sympathy, namely: Gentleness is akin to divinity. Perhaps no quality is so far
Fifth pillar – Sympathy removed from all that is coarse, brutal and selfish as
gentleness, so that when one is becoming gentle, he is
becoming divine. It can only be acquired after much
3. Gentleness experience and through great self-discipline.
Insight is the gift of sympathy. The sympathetic mind is the
profoundly perceiving mind. We understand by experience,
4. Insight and not by argument.
Prejudice is the great barrier to sympathy and knowledge. It is
impossible to understand those against whom one harbours a
prejudice. We only see men and things as they are when we
divest our minds of partial judgements. We become seers as
we become sympathizers. Sympathy has knowledge for her
companion.

Human society is held together by its sincerity. A universal

falseness would beget a universal mistrust which would bring
about a universal separation, if not destruction. Life is made
sane, wholesome, and happy, by our deep rooted belief in
one another. If we did not trust men, we could not transact
business with them, could not even associate with them.
Simplicity is naturalness. It is simple being, without fake or
1. Simplicity foreign adornment.
Attractiveness is the direct outcome of simplicity. This is seen
Sixth pillar – Sincerity in the attractiveness of all natural objects; to which we have
referred, but in human nature it is manifested as personal
2. Attractiveness influence.
Penetration belongs to the sincere. All shams are unveiled in
their presence. All simulators are transparent to the searching
Four beautiful traits adorn the mind of the sincere man; they are: eye of the sincere man. With one clear glance he sees
through all their flimsy pretences. Tricksters with under his
strong gaze, and want to get away from it. He who has rid his
heart of all falseness, and entertains only that which is true,
has gained the power to distinguish the false from the true in
3. Penetration others. He is not deceived who is not self deceived.
Power goes with penetration. An understanding of the nature
of actions is accompanied with the power to meet and deal
4. Power with all actions in the right and best way.

To get rid of prejudice is a great achievement. Prejudices piles

obstacles in a man’s way – obstacles to health, success,
happiness, and prosperity, so that he is continually running up
against imaginary enemies, who, when prejudice is removed,
are seen to be friend.
The just man does not try to gain an advantage; he considers
the true values of things, and moulds his transactions in
accordance therewith.
The upright man purges his business of all bargaining, and
1. Justice builds it one the more dignified basis of justice. He supplies “a
good article” at its right price, and does not alter. He does not
Seventh pillar – Impartiality soil his hands with any business which is tainted with fraud.
His goods are genuine and they are properly priced.
Patience is the brightest jewel in the character of the impartial man.
A man must begin to wisely control himself, and to learn the
2. Patience beautiful lessons of patience, if he is to be highly prosperous,
if he is to be a man of use and power. He must learn to think
of others, to act for their good, and not alone for himself; to be
considerate, for bearing, and long suffering.
The four great elements of impartiality are:
Calmness accompanies patience. It is a great and glorious
quality. It is the peaceful haven of emancipated souls after
their long wanderings on the tempest riven ocean of passion.
It makes the man who has suffered much, endured much,
3. Calmness experienced much, and has finally conquered.
Wisdom abides with the impartial man. Her counsels guide
him; her wings shield him; she leads him along pleasant ways
to happy destinations.
The understanding mind needs no external support. It stands
4. Wisdom of itself on the firm ground of knowledge; not book-
knowledge, but ripened experience. It has passed through all
minds, and therefore knows them. It has traveled with all
hearts, and knows their journeying in joy and sorrow.

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 The understanding mind needs no external support. It stands
of itself on the firm ground of knowledge; not book-
knowledge, but ripened experience. It has passed through all
minds, and therefore knows them. It has traveled with all
hearts, and knows their journeying in joy and sorrow.

If we rely upon the light of another, darkness will over take us,
but if we rely upon our own light we have but to keep it
burning.
Decision makes a man strong. The wearer is the weakling. A
man who is to play a speaking part, however small, in the
1. Decision drama of life must be decisive and know what he is about.
Eighth pillar – Self-reliance Steadfastness arises in the mind that is quick to decide. It is
indeed a final decision upon the best course of conduct and
the best path in life.
2. Steadfastness
The man without fixed principles will not accomplish much.
Dignity clothes, as with a majestic garment, the steadfast mind.
The four grand qualities of self reliance are:
The man of dignity cannot be down-trodden and enslaved,
3. Dignity because he has ceased to tread upon and enslave himself.
He at once disarms, with a look, a word, a wise and
suggestive silence, any attempt to demean him.
Independence is the birthright of the strong and well
controlled man. All men love and strive for liberty. All men
4. Independence aspire to some sort of freedom.

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