The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

I believe in exploring the extremes as much as possible, as this can provoke unexpected reactions that lead toward insight. One thing that’s been on my mind has been making money, so this reference to The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition was particularly ripe for the linking (via vowe.net).

The Ferengi are one of the fictional races from the Star Trek universe, and are portrayed as ruthless mysogonistic profiteers. There are 299 rules that are the basis of Ferengi society, which is to make as much money as possible. These were the sayings that I thought were applicable to my experience:

• Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to.
• Always keep your ears open.
• Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
• Wise men can hear profit in the wind.
• Good customers are as rare as latinum — treasure them.
• Free advice is seldom cheap.
• Knowledge equals profit.
• Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack.
• Buy, sell, or get out of the way.
• You can’t make a deal if you’re dead.
• Never begin a business transaction on an empty stomach.
• You can’t free a fish from water

There are more of course, of increasing levels of nastiness; the ones I picked are the nice ones. While I don’t necessarily agree with the full implications of these particular statements, there’s a lot of truth in them. Worth considering.