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Money and “The perfect is the enemy of the good”

The other day, I noodled about that famous Voltaire quote. While googling the phrase, I came across series of 14 articles on the Get Rich Slowly site. (The ninth article in the series is “The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good.”)

Since avoiding unnecessary debt and financial dependency are among the basics of living free, I thought I’d toss the series to you for a read. It’s filled with solid advice even if you don’t aim to get rich, slowly, quickly, or any other way. In fact, the last article in the series is “It’s more important to be happy than rich.”

Amen to that.

But on the other hand … being both rich and happy would be sort of nice. And would it be too much to add good looking while we’re at it?

As my very favorite actor, the magnificently independent and quirky (and rich, happy, and good-looking) Johnny Depp quoted from his private island in the Caribbean: “Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it.” (NB: A few bits of non-family-friendly language in the linked Vanity Fair article.)

5 Comments

  1. Debra
    Debra February 1, 2010 7:10 am

    I’m a huge fan of Get Rich Slowly and have been reading it for years. It’s extremely sensible and covers everything from everyday frugality to saving money on big ticket items, setting up budgets, and so on. Tons of reader comments and guest posts help round out any particular topic.

  2. Claire
    Claire February 1, 2010 7:59 am

    Hey, Debra! Surprised to see you here. But not surprised you’re a fan of Get Rich Slowly.

    (I know Debra. She’s sensible. Unlike me. 😉 )

  3. Claire
    Claire February 1, 2010 10:58 am

    delmont day … I admit I’ve never paid attention to the details of the Depp jewelry (or tattoos). I’m guessing you don’t mean the gonzo or Ganesh necklaces or the one with the sapphire. So I’ll take a wild leap and guess that Johnny Depp’s been spotted wearing a Che Guevara around his neck.

    And I have to confess … in this case, it doesn’t matter to me. You and I know that Che Guevara was a murdering, authoritarian thug and I agree that wearing his image is grotesque. No quibbles on that. But I’ve always figured that the wearing of the famous image had very little to do with the actual Che and his terrible deeds, and more with … well, just the photo. I mean, that famous picture of Che really does sum up “sexy, romantic, revolutionary cool.” Gods forbid, but it does. And with most wearers, I really think that’s all it’s about. I’ll bet you not 1 in 100 could tell you any significant facts about the man himself.

    If it were some middling-talent doctrinaire loudmouth like Alec Baldwin wearing the icon, yep, I’d gladly forego his movies for the rest of my life. But Depp has so much talent, so much creative courage, and so many personal virtues (humility, real devotion to his children, etc.) that one Che ornament would never stop me from seeing his movies. I already knew I didn’t agree with his politics. But I admire his free spirit. (And yes, I know Che was about as free-spirited as Josef Stalin. So it goes …)

    To each his own, though. I can understand your point of view.

    And thanks for the links, too.

  4. George Potter
    George Potter February 1, 2010 7:47 pm

    I find Che’s fate entirely fitting, to be reduced to a shallow marketing gimmick (his actual freakin’ face) creating money for corporate plutocrats, his entire legacy soon to be as ‘that one t-shirt guy. The one people wore. For a while.’

    People sport symbols for personal reasons. If you wore an ankh, I’d be remiss is accusing you of promoting ancient Egyptian slavery. Especially if you were just wearing it because it looked cool.

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