The Science of Getting Rich

Wallace D. Wattles opens The Science of Getting Rich with the assertion that every person has a right to be rich. Writing from within the New Thought tradition, a philosophical movement emphasizing the creative power of mind and its connection to a universal intelligence, Wattles defines richness not as contentment with little but as possessing everything one needs for the fullest possible life. Because society requires money for material goods, and because development in body, mind, and soul depends on such goods, wealth is a prerequisite for complete human flourishing. The body needs food, shelter, and rest; the mind needs books, travel, and intellectual companionship; the soul needs love, which poverty restricts. Studying how to acquire wealth, Wattles concludes, is the most essential of all knowledge.

He argues that getting rich operates according to fixed, repeatable laws, making it an exact science. Wealth results from doing things "in a certain way." He eliminates alternative explanations: environment cannot be the primary cause, because rich and poor people live side by side; talent is not decisive, because many talented people remain poor; saving and thrift do not reliably produce wealth. Anyone who learns the certain way will get rich with mathematical certainty.

Wattles rejects the idea that opportunity is monopolized, arguing that the working class remains where it is because it has not yet learned the certain way. He introduces a metaphysical foundation: everything on earth is made from one "original substance," a formless, intelligent raw material that permeates the universe. This substance is alive, always producing new forms, and its supply is inexhaustible. Individual poverty results not from scarcity but from failing to think and act in the certain way.

The first principle of the science is that thought is the only power capable of producing tangible riches from formless substance. Every form in nature is a visible expression of a thought within that substance. Creation through thought follows established lines of growth and action rather than producing objects instantly. Wattles lays down three foundational propositions: a thinking stuff from which all things are made permeates the universe; a thought in this substance produces the thing imaged; a person can impress thought upon formless substance to cause what is thought about to be created. The reader must accept these propositions on faith.

Wattles argues that the desire for increase is the fundamental impulse of all life. The formless substance, which he equates with God, actively wants each person to become rich because God can express more fully through people with abundant means. However, one's purpose must harmonize with the universal purpose of more life for all, seeking a balanced fullness of body, mind, and soul. A critical distinction follows: The reader must abandon the competitive mindset entirely and become a creator rather than a competitor, never taking from others but causing new wealth to be created. Wattles acknowledges that figures like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan achieved vast wealth through competition, but he characterizes them as unconscious agents of a larger evolutionary process whose era is ending.

He explains how riches reach the individual. Ethical wealth creation requires giving every person more in use value, meaning practical benefit to the recipient, than one takes in cash value, or monetary price. The creative process does not produce objects out of thin air. Instead, the individual holds a clear mental image of what is wanted with absolute certainty, and the same formless intelligence described earlier, which Wattles also calls supreme intelligence, acts upon other people's minds to arrange transactions delivering the desired thing. Wattles illustrates this with a student who initially asked only for a rug and a stove, obtained them, then expanded his vision to an ideal home he eventually came to own.

Gratitude is the essential mechanism for maintaining connection with formless intelligence. It operates like a law of action and reaction: grateful outreaching toward the supreme intelligence produces a reactive movement of blessings. Gratitude keeps the mind fixed on abundance, preventing competitive thought and generating faith. Dissatisfied thinking, by contrast, impresses inferior forms upon formless substance and attracts inferior conditions.

The reader must form a definite mental picture of what is wanted, not a vague wish for wealth. Behind the clear vision must stand the purpose to realize it and an invincible faith that the thing is already possessed. Real faith is demonstrated not during moments of prayer but during moments of work.

Willpower must be directed inward, never applied to other people. Mental coercion is as wrong as physical force. The reader must use the will to fix attention on wealth and refuse to dwell upon poverty or suffering. Wattles claims that charity and conventional anti-poverty efforts are counterproductive because the poor need inspiration, not relief. The best way to help the poor is to demonstrate through one's own example that they too can become rich. He advises the reader to set aside all conflicting theories, including theosophy and spiritualism, both forms of occult philosophy, to avoid mental crosscurrents that would undermine faith.

Thought alone is not enough; personal action must accompany it. Wattles identifies the failure to connect thought with action as the point where many otherwise scientific thinkers fail. The reader must act now, in the present business and environment, rather than waiting for ideal conditions. Those who feel misplaced should hold the vision of the right situation while acting with full effort in their current one.

Efficient action is the key to daily progress. One advances only by being larger than one's present place. What matters is not the quantity of acts but their efficiency, and each act becomes efficient when performed while holding the vision and putting the full power of faith and purpose into it. On choosing a vocation, Wattles advises that one will succeed most satisfactorily doing what one truly wants to do, because desire itself is proof of the power to accomplish a thing. He counsels against haste, noting that on the creative plane, the noncompetitive mode of thought and action, there is no shortage of time or opportunity.

Wattles introduces the principle of increase: The reader must convey the impression of advancement to every person encountered. In every transaction, the reader should project the quiet assurance of someone who advances others. He warns against the temptation to seek power over others, describing this desire as the competitive mind's corruption. The principle associated with Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones, a reform-minded mayor of Toledo, Ohio, captures Wattles's vision: What one wants for oneself, one should want for everybody (82).

The principles apply universally, from physicians and teachers to wage earners. No circumstance or industrial system can keep a person down who practices the certain way. In his final cautions, Wattles warns against falling back into the competitive mind or speaking of failure. Apparent setbacks may be the supreme intelligence redirecting toward something better. All necessary talent will be furnished when needed. Wattles cites Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, as someone enabled by this same universal source of ability to accomplish great work in government.

The book closes by restating the complete system. The reader must accept the three foundational propositions, move from the competitive to the creative mind, maintain continuous gratitude, form a clear mental image, and contemplate this vision with unwavering faith. In action, the reader must more than fill the present place, do every day all that can be done, give every person more in use value than received in cash value, and communicate the impression of increase. Wattles concludes that those who practice these instructions will certainly get rich, in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.