Men know their interest, and will follow it in spite of friendship. Give me the skill, and you may have all the patrons. They will stick to you as long as you serve them best-no longer. Recollect the main point is employ, and not fair words. One man giving a job, is worth forty promising it.
Promises are the ruin of many, and usually impart nothing but a vitality to hope.
In fine, never think you have money at your command until it is actually in their hand, and therefore take care how you promise it.