Volume 4 · The Ledger and the Loom · Essay 191

Pertinent Negative

There are ideas that shout. Pertinent Negative is not one of them. It waits quietly until the day you need it.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

Consider the chit fund in a small town. It survives not on contracts but on the shame of defaulting before neighbours. Reputation is the oldest collateral in India.

Money is a good clerk and a terrible master; the arrangement is entirely up to us. Print it on a card if you like. Better: print it on a habit.