Very Rich Ugly People

Those Golden Days Before Money Bought Beauty

So this is Wallace Wattles, who inspired this post when I was researching him for my latest audio for The Moneylove Club, looking at some of the people who first discussed and wrote about The Law of Attraction. Back in 1910, Wallace wrote The Science of Getting Rich. This is credited as being a major inspiration for The Secret. Rhonda Byrne’s daughter gave her a copy when she was going through some hard times.

In those days, near the beginning of the 20th Century, no matter how rich you were, you couldn’t do much about your looks. No extreme makeovers, sophisticated make up formulas, cosmetic surgery. So Bill Gates and Warren Buffet seem like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck compared to some of their predecessors. Fortunately, there was no TV in those days, but there were newspaper photographs.

Wallace Wattles did have some interesting things to say about prosperity, including:

Man’s right to life means his right to have the free and unrestricted use of all the things which may be necessary to his fullest mental , spiritual, and physical unfoldment, or, in other words, his right to be rich.

I first heard about Wallace Wattles through my friend Tony Busse, who sent me the following link:www.psitek.net/pages/PsiTekSOGRContents.html
to download the entire text of The Science of Getting Rich–definitely a worthwhile read.

This beauty was John D. Rockefeller, founder of a family whose name became synonymous with wealth. And for good reason. At the time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller was was worth 1.4 billion (he was the first American billionaire) and the U.S. GDP was 92 billion. No other person of wealth before or since has come close to such a high personal fortune in relation to the GDP. A few of his words of wisdom:

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

J.P. Morgan, whom Forbes calls “the most important banker who ever lived.”
personally led the 1907 bailout that saved the U.S. economy from collapse.
His nose was unfortunate to say the least. It was purple, due to a skin condition, and deformed as well. Though in this portrait, I think he sort of looks like a bloated version of the late actor George C. Scott. In his time and still, Morgan has been quoted extensively.

When you expect things to happen–strangely enough–they do happen.

I made a fortune getting out too soon.

Interestingly enough, these two immensely rich and powerful men, J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller both made rather strong statements about the negative aspects of focusing too much on money. Morgan said:

Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.

And from Rockefeller:

I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money’s sake.

It is said that Rockefeller on hearing of Morgan’s death and the fact his fortune was then estimated at $80 million (though Morgan controlled companies worth billions), said, “Why, he wasn’t even rich.”

And finally, we come to Hetty Green, known as the Witch of Wall Street. In this same period, say around 1910, she was the wealthiest woman in America and perhaps the world. In my attempts at gender balance, however, I probably do a disservice to women. Of course, in those days, few women had the opportunity to create wealth on their own, they didn’t even have the vote. Hetty was a notorious miser, owning just one black dress, eating in very cheap restaurants, but died worth $100 million from her skills in predicting stock market panics and taking advantage of them. She didn’t offer much in the way of motivation or inspiration either. Most of her comments were expressing her opinion on the stupidity of men, and the detestability of lawyers and doctors. For example:

I had rather that my daughter should be burned at the stake than to have to suffer what I have gone through with lawyers.

So there you have my rogues gallery of hugely wealthy and hugely homely figures.
And maybe here is my question of the day, “Would you be willing to go through life with a repulsive face if you had unlimited wealth in exchange?” Of course, today, thanks to modern science, that choice is moot.
Jerry