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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if getting ahead begins not with earning more, but with choosing the right work?
In The Art of Money Getting, P. T. Barnum turns his experience as a showman and businessman into plain advice. His short chapters each centre on a rule: choose work that fits, depend on yourself, and spend less than you earn. Money matters here, but so do effort, judgment, and the habits you bring to work.
Barnum writes with jokes, stories of people he knows, and strong opinions. He links advertising with customer care, and financial success with health, honesty, and a good name. His advice offers a clear view of nineteenth-century business thinking, while asking questions that matter when you start a career or build a business.
What you’ll discover
- Work that fits you Consider Barnum’s argument that the wrong vocation can hold back a capable person.
- Effort with a purpose Explore his call to rely on yourself and give your work your full strength.
- Spending within your means Examine his firm rule of spending less than you earn and avoiding debt.
- Customers and public attention See why Barnum pairs making a business known with treating its customers kindly.
- More than money Discover why health, honesty, and a good name belong in his account of success.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy a showman's tall tales, practical rules for work and money, and short stories with a point. It suits anyone starting a career or running a small business.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- One purchase can invite many more
- Protect the tools that earn money
- Match your work to your nature
- Make money serve rather than rule
- Plan carefully and act with courage
- Value thinking people and earned beginnings
- Keep your attention on your business
- Public attention needs lasting customer trust
- Character and good sense are capital
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The Art of Money Getting
by P. T. Barnum · 1880
P. T. Barnum says a sofa can cost thirty thousand dollars, and shows how thrift, honesty and ads build wealth.
ChallengingUnder 2 hours to read20 languages
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“Be sure you are right, then go ahead.”
In short
What would you do if a single sofa cost you thirty thousand dollars? In this book, a wealthy friend of P. T. Barnum tells exactly that story.
The Art of Money Getting at a glance
- Reading time
- About 50 min40 min fast, 1 h slow
- Length
- 12,400 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1880by P. T. Barnum
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Real thrift means income beats expenses
Barnum says making money is not hard for a healthy person willing to take honest work. The hard part is keeping it. The road to wealth is as plain as the road to the mill, and it means spending less than you earn.
Most people think they know this, and Barnum says that belief is the trouble. They mistake thrift for saving candle ends. Worse, they are careful in one place and wasteful in another. A farm wife allows one candle in the evening, so guests cannot read, and then spends a fortune on ribbons in the village.
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Details
- First published
- 1880
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 1 h 0 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Barnum, P. T. The Art of Money Getting. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-art-of-money-getting.
Barnum, P. T. (2026). The art of money getting. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-art-of-money-getting (Original work published 1880)
Barnum, P. T. The Art of Money Getting. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-art-of-money-getting.
@book{barnum2026art,
author = {Barnum, P. T.},
title = {The Art of Money Getting},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-art-of-money-getting},
note = {First published 1880}
}
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What is The Art of Money Getting about?
It is P. T. Barnum's advice on earning money and keeping it. He covers thrift, health, choosing the right work, avoiding debt, perseverance, advertising, good service and honesty, and illustrates many rules with stories from his own life and times.
What does Barnum mean by true thrift?
He means keeping your income always higher than your expenses. It is not meanness or saving scraps while wasting money elsewhere. He recommends a notebook with two columns, necessities and luxuries, so you can see where your money goes.
Why does Barnum talk about tobacco and drink in a book about money?
He argues that making money needs good health and a clear mind. Tobacco and drink waste cash, dull judgment and cost opportunities. He speaks from experience, since he gave up heavy smoking after his doctor warned him.
The author
P. T. Barnum
1810–1891 · American showman and autobiographer
P. T. Barnum was the American showman who built the greatest entertainment empire of the nineteenth century, from his famous museum to the circus that bore his name. The Art of Money Getting distills his hard-won rules for earning and keeping wealth.
“Be sure you are right, then go ahead.”
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