Books, A to Z On 3 of the 12 ideas

The Science of Getting Rich

Wallace D. Wattles 1910

1 Cites2 Conflicts

Ideas we have traced through this book

Do the work, let go of the results

Conflicts

Wattles makes the result the motive: see the things you want “as if they were actually around you all the time” and yourself as owning them. He never raises letting go.

2nd c. BCE to 2nd c. CE
“But thou, want not! ask not! Find full reward Of doing right in right! Let right deeds be Thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them.”
Bhagavad Gita. Earliest we can find, more than 1,700 years earlier.
1910
“See the things you want as if they were actually around you all the time; see yourself as owning and using them.”

Full text read.

Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich.

Project Gutenberg eBook #59844, gutenberg.org/ebooks/59844.

Believe it and it will come

Cites Jesus

Wattles asks for a clear picture and unwavering faith that the thing is already yours, and quotes the verse, “believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”, crediting Jesus.

c. 65 to 75 CE
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Gospel of Mark. Earliest we can find, about 1,840 years earlier.
1910
“‘Whatsoever things ye ask for when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them,’ said Jesus.”

Full text read.

Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich.

Project Gutenberg eBook #59844, gutenberg.org/ebooks/59844.

Some things are up to you

Conflicts

Wattles puts property and outcomes inside your power: with the right thinking you can have the things you want. He never raises the question of control.

c. 125 CE
“There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.”
Epictetus, Enchiridion. Earliest we can find, about 1,790 years earlier.
1910
“You can certainly have a sewing machine in your house; and it is just as certain that you can have any other thing or things which you want, and which you will use for the advancement of your own life and the lives of others.”

Full text read.

Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich.

Project Gutenberg eBook #59844, gutenberg.org/ebooks/59844.

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