If one can’t contrive to live on a certain income of money， one earns a little more—or steals it， or advertises for it. One doesn’t necessarily muddle one’s life because one can't quite manage on a thousand pounds a year； one braces the muscles and makes it guineas， and balances the budget. But if one cannot arrange that an income of twenty-four hours a day shall exactly cover all proper items of expenditure， one does muddle one's life definitely. The supply of time， though gloriously regular， is cruelly restricted.
Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day？ And when I say “lives，” I do not mean “exists”， nor “muddles through.” Which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the “great spending departments” of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be？ Which of us is quite sure that his fine suit is not surmounted by a shameful hat， or that in attending to the crockery he has forgotten the quality of the food？ Which of us is not saying to himself—which of us has not been saying to himself all his life： “I shall alter that when I have a little more time”？
We never shall have any more time. We have， and we have always had， all the time there is. It is the realization of this profound and neglected truth (which， by the way， I have not discovered) that has led me to the minute practical examination of daily time-expenditure.
“没错，他是属于不懂得如何理财的那一类人。虽然拥有较好的工作、稳定的收入，足够供他日常消费和享用奢侈品了，可他并非特别奢华之人，却时常陷入困境。总之，他属于那种不会理财的人。他有一套很不错的公寓，但里面空****的，看起来总像是接待了一拨又一拨的拍卖经纪人似的。他的西装焕然一新，帽子却破旧不堪；脖子上的领带华丽无比，下面的裤子却皱皱巴巴；请你吃饭时，他用雕花的玻璃器皿盛糟糕的羊肉，或把土耳其的咖啡泡在带裂痕的杯子里。他也弄不清楚，只好简单地解释说，他零星地花完了所有的收入。真希望我能有他一半的收入！我一定会教他……