Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage3， business. My whole point is that it was not for me. I went into it for money， and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family， money is all I got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition4 was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music. I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for "down-town"， distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last minute. Instead of lunching with my business associates， I would seek out some cheap cafe， order a meager meal and scribble my harmony exercises. I continued to make money， and finally， bit by bit， accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent， and my help no longer necessary， I resigned from my position and， feeling like a man released from jail， sailed for Europe. I stayed four years， worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and enjoyed every minute of it.
"Enjoyed" is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a free man and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do.
If I had stayed in business I might be a comparatively wealthy man today， but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles， those inner satisfactions that money can never buy， and that are too often sacrificed when a man' s primary goal is financial Success.
When I broke away from business it was against the advice of practically all my friends and family. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that the thought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so， all I can say is "Gee， it' s great to be crazy."
Money is a wonderful thing， but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.