Most people are just trying to get through the day. Sophisticated people learn how to get from the day.

Sophistication is understanding the difference between trinkets and treasures.

Don’t spend major money on minor things. In the last ten years the guy has bought two tons of donuts and only two books—and the books are primarily filled with pictures.

Sophisticated people don’t leave early. The man says, “Yeah, but I want to beat the traffic.” Isn’t that a great skill to have—beating the traffic!

It doesn’t take a million dollars to learn the difference between a bottle of fine wine and a Pepsi. Sophistication is a study, not an amount.

One of the early signs of sophistication is not giving way to all inclinations but rather sending your emotions to school so they will learn how to behave.

Money doesn’t make you sophisticated. Only study and practice make you sophisticated. Even people of modest means can become sophisticated because it is within study and practice. How much is a night out at the symphony? About thirty dollars. You say, “Poor people can’t afford thirty dollars to go to the symphony.” Yes, they can. It’s only thirty Hershey bars!

We must teach our children not to spend their money a dollar at a time. If you spend your money a dollar at a time, you’ll wind up with trinkets instead of treasures. You can’t buy much of value a dollar at a time.

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. That is why I wish to pay fair price for every value. If I have to pay for it or earn it, that makes something of me. If I get it for free, that makes nothing of me.

All values must be won by contest, and after they have been won, they must be defended.

Don’t sell out your virtue and your value for something you think you want. Judas got the money, but he threw it all away and hung himself because he was so unhappy with himself.

Values were meant to be costly. If it doesn’t cost much, we probably wouldn’t appreciate the value.

Count the cost first. Don’t pay too big a price for pursuing minor values.