The Science of Getting Rich

Wattles begins with a deliberately blunt claim: a “really complete or successful life” is impossible without riches. His reason is material, not symbolic—talent and soul need things through which to develop, and those things cost money.

He means literal wealth, not the comforting idea that feeling rich is enough. “To be really rich does not mean to be satisfied or contented with a little.” Contentment cannot replace resources you could genuinely use.

Which statement best captures Wattles’s opening position?

• Money provides access to things needed for fuller development.✓Correct answer
• Wealth matters mainly because it establishes social rank.
• Spiritual growth requires rejecting material desires.
• You are rich whenever you feel content with what you have.

Wattles treats money as the practical means of obtaining things that support development. He explicitly refuses to redefine riches as contentment with little.

His argument begins with development rather than luxury: “The object of all life is development.” Because every living person has a right to develop as fully as possible, he says the right to life includes a right to the necessary means.

The chain is simple: body, mind, and soul develop through the use of things; society generally requires money to obtain those things. Money therefore becomes, in his argument, the material basis of advancement—not a decorative reward added afterward.

Because development includes the soul, Wattles believes material resources are ultimately unnecessary.

False✓Correct answer

He argues the opposite: even mental and spiritual development require access to material conditions and useful things. Calling an aim spiritual does not remove its practical requirements.