P.T. Barnum Says “Don’t Blab About Your Success Or Losses”

DON’T BLAB

“Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets. If they make money they like to tell their neighbors how it was done. Nothing is gained by this, and ofttimes much is lost. Say nothing about your profits, your hopes, your expectations, your intentions. And this should apply to letters as well as to conversation. Goethe makes Mephistophilles say: “Never write a letter nor destroy one.” Business men must write letters, but they should be careful what they put in them. If you are losing money, be specially cautious and not tell of it, or you will lose your reputation.”

Excerpt From: P. T. Barnum. “Art of Money Getting / Or, Golden Rules for Making Money.” iBooks.

Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus.^[1] Although Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician, he said of himself, “I am a showman by profession…and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me”,^[2] and his personal aim was “to put money in his own coffers”.^[3] Barnum is widely, but erroneously, credited with coining the phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute“.^[4]

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