Page 49 - How To Get Rich

For me, the early morning hours are best for this kind of reflection.
I’m an early riser, usually up by 5A.M ., which gives me a few hours to
read newspapers and magazines of all sorts—local, national, and
international.

In the evening, after a black-tie dinner, I’ll unwind by stopping at my
local Korean grocery for snacks—potato chips and pretzels. That will be
my dinner. I rarely get to eat at those black-tie events, and I’d rather have
the junk food, anyway.
Once I’m home, I read books—usually biographies. Now and then I
like to read about philosophers—particularly Socrates, who emphasizes
that you should follow the convictions of your conscience, which basically

means thinking for yourself, a philosophy I tend to agree with. It may not
make you too popular, but it’s essential for lucid thought, and it’s a good
way to avoid being part of a herd mentality of any sort.
I read as much as I can, but not as much as I’d like, because there are
so many constraints on my time. I am grateful for the contribution Oprah
Winfrey has made to our country in regard to reading. In my bookThe

America We Deserve, I wrote about the deplorable state of reading in this
country. Since Oprah decided to do something about it, there has been a
noticeable upswing in book sales, and writers are once again considered to
be cool people rather than dinosaurs. I cannot thank Oprah enough for
what she has done, and I hope every person in this country realizes the
positive influence she has had. We all owe Oprah a big thank-you, and I’d
like to lead the crowd in saying so.

I like movies and television as much as anyone else, but reading is a
form of replenishment for me. The potato chips and pretzels help, too.

Dress for Your Culture
I used to pride myself on buying very inexpensive suits and other

clothing. It just didn’t make sense to pay thousands of dollars for great
clothes when you could buy something for a hundred dollars. Who would
know the difference?
Over the years, I’ve learned that this is wrongheaded. I now buy very
high-quality shoes, and they seem to last forever, whereas the cheapos
used to wear out quickly and always looked as cheap as the price I’d paid
for them. The same is true for suits. These days, I go for Brioni, whose
service and attention to detail is second to none. They supplied most of the