Page "belles_lettres" Paragraph 376

Despite this danger, however, we are informed on every hand that ideas, not machines, are our finest tools ; ;

they are priceless even though they cannot be recorded on a ledger page ; ;

they are the most valuable of commodities -- and the most salable, for their demand far exceeds supply.

So all-important are ideas, we are told, that persons successful in business and happy in social life usually fall into two classes: those who invent new ideas of their own, and those who borrow, beg, or steal from others.