XVIII. Riches Are Slaves in One House and Masters in the Other

The same wealth produces different effects depending on who owns it.

Here is the difference between the wise man and the fool stated plainly and finally.

Riches are servants in the house of the wise man and masters in the house of the fool. You have grown so used to your wealth and cling to it so tightly that it is as if someone had promised it would be yours forever. The wise man never thinks this way. He thinks more carefully about poverty when he is surrounded by riches than a fool thinks about poverty when he is actually poor.

The fool sits inside his walls watching his wealth and feels safe. He does not see what is being assembled against him at a distance. Like people who are being besieged and do not understand what siege equipment is for, he watches the preparations without understanding their purpose. He idles while the machines are being built.

The wise man sees the machines. He has no illusions about what wealth is: a temporary arrangement, a loan from Fortune, liable to be recalled at any moment. He uses it while it is there. He does not sleep on it.

This is not a gloomy way to live. It is the most fully alive way to live. The person who has accepted that everything can be taken is the person who is most present with what they have, because nothing is being held back in the service of defending it.