Don't Die Farting

Since I was a kid I have loved good quotes. They can seek out, summarize and encapsulate the essence of an idea.

Sometimes they spring forth as individual, self contained expressions, or they can be a part of a larger treatise that begs for a summary.

Case in point, one of my favorite Ben Franklin quotes:

“He that lives upon Hope, dies farting.”

Note he did not say “has hope” but “lives upon.” To live upon hope, rather than using your passion and taking action, produces nothing useful.

An example of how this quote applies to personal finance might be found in an encounter I had at a convenience store last week. It was early afternoon on a weekday and as I entered there was a shabbily dressed man that appeared to be in his sixties, leaning on the front counter scratching lottery tickets while the clerk watched. I got in line behind him to wait my turn. For the next several minutes he continued to order different tickets and scratch them off. It seemed this was a regular occurrence as the clerk and the man knew each other by first name and were very friendly. When he was finally done the clerk wished him better luck next time and he shuffled out the door.

I passed the man out front, standing there reexamining his purchase with a look of disappointment. As I got into my car he was still standing there, frowning at the little tickets that had let him down.

What does one take from this tiny slice of life? Is it possible he was a self made millionaire that dresses down and has a habit of buying lottery tickets? Sure. Or maybe it was his first time buying lottery tickets and he was just very friendly to the clerk, or he was buying them for a sick friend, or insert your theory here. You never know. But as I drove away I couldn’t help but remember old Bens interesting quote.