I have always said that I do not want to win millions. The people to whom I have expressed this thought have always regarded me with a look that either suggests they think I’m kidding myself or that they think I’m trying to kid them. Who wouldn’t want to win millions?

Obviously, were I to win millions I wouldn’t refuse the windfall on the grounds that I believe there is nothing to take pride in when you acquire wealth without having to earn it. But I do not fantasize about winning money. That is not to say I have never fantasized about winning money. There was a time when I played the lottery almost obssessively. But desperation to escape poverty is quite a different desire from the desire to achieve financial success in business.

It seems to me that a person would value their money that much more knowing that they earned it.

If you’ve read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”, there’s a discussion about money being the root of all evil. The comments made by the character of Francisco d’Anconia in challenging the statement are very interesting.

From Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged
“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d”Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you call evil?”

“When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor–your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money. Is that what you consider evil?”

“…Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money–and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.”

“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.”

The speech is quite lengthy. I’ve only quoted a few paragraphs.

Is that what separates men and women who own billion dollar corporations from the rest of us? We all love money. We all want money; but the majority of us are not willing to work as hard as it is necessary to work to make the kind of money we desire.