Volume 4 · The Ledger and the Loom · Essay 16

Auftragstaktik

Auftragstaktik is a small handle on a large fact. Grip it, and the fact becomes easier to carry.

Strip it to the floor and you find an old instruction: look carefully, judge slowly, act decently. The new name exists because the old instruction keeps being forgotten.

A rupee saved loudly impresses people for a day. A rupee invested quietly feeds them for years. The bazaar respects the first; life rewards the second.

Money is a good clerk and a terrible master; the arrangement is entirely up to us. That is all. A small tool, honestly kept, beats a large one admired.