3 ms·

The story of Timothy Dexter

48 points by swalsh 14y ago

terhechte 14y ago
My mom had this saying from her grandfather which was something like "While a smart guy still contemplates an opportunity, the simple one has already gone there and seized it". Oftentimes because he never thinks about the danger of his action, he just does.
peter_l_downs 14y ago
What a great story! I have no idea how this is relevant to HN but I found it hilarious.
- swalsh 14y ago
  It really is just a great story... but deep down I think there's some good business lessons here. Luck matters, but deep down I think his luckiest break was having a great boat captain. The guy found profit in the most unlikeliest of places by improvising.
  - pavel_lishin 14y ago
    I'd love to read about his story, but I'd wager that he wasn't notable enough; it would be interesting to find his journal. "August 17th, 1782. The idiot sent us to the West Indies with a boat-load of warming pans. It was only through my ingenuity and hustle that I was able to convince the locals that they would make excellent ladles - we actually managed to turn a profit! I can already imagine the smug look on Dexter's face when we tell him about this. I bet this will inspire him to send something even more idiotic next time, like wool mittens. Note to self, don't show him this journal lest he get any ideas."
roymabookie 14y ago
what a LAD
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
shpoonj 14y ago
Goes to show that it is possible to take the easy way out(marrying a rich woman you can't stand per example) and make large sums of money without ever doing or amounting to anything. Dexter sounds like the equivalent of a modern reality television star and a great reminder that success isn't measured by money.
K2h 14y ago
...And for him, timing was everything. That is my take away.
SteveGuttenberg 14y ago
Curious
lylemckeany 14y ago
>In the second edition Dexter added an extra page which consisted of 13 lines of punctuation marks. Dexter instructed readers to "peper and solt it as they plese". ...zero f*cks given.
ChristianMarks 14y ago
My takeaway from this is that brains are superfluous in business and may even be a hindrance. Actually a bimodal distribution with Dexter on one end and Bezos on the other is more likely to be beneficial.
bhz 14y ago
I think my favorite part is the ASCII art from 1798: http://books.google.com/books?id=uboNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=uboNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36#v=... (Yes, ASCII wasn't around in 1798.)

48 points by swalsh 14y ago

My mom had this saying from her grandfather which was something like "While a smart guy still contemplates an opportunity, the simple one has already gone there and seized it". Oftentimes because he never thinks about the danger of his action, he just does.

peter_l_downs 14y ago

What a great story! I have no idea how this is relevant to HN but I found it hilarious.

swalsh 14y ago
It really is just a great story... but deep down I think there's some good business lessons here. Luck matters, but deep down I think his luckiest break was having a great boat captain. The guy found profit in the most unlikeliest of places by improvising.
- pavel_lishin 14y ago
  I'd love to read about his story, but I'd wager that he wasn't notable enough; it would be interesting to find his journal. "August 17th, 1782. The idiot sent us to the West Indies with a boat-load of warming pans. It was only through my ingenuity and hustle that I was able to convince the locals that they would make excellent ladles - we actually managed to turn a profit! I can already imagine the smug look on Dexter's face when we tell him about this. I bet this will inspire him to send something even more idiotic next time, like wool mittens. Note to self, don't show him this journal lest he get any ideas."

roymabookie 14y ago

what a LAD

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

shpoonj 14y ago

Goes to show that it is possible to take the easy way out(marrying a rich woman you can't stand per example) and make large sums of money without ever doing or amounting to anything. Dexter sounds like the equivalent of a modern reality television star and a great reminder that success isn't measured by money.

K2h 14y ago

...And for him, timing was everything. That is my take away.

SteveGuttenberg 14y ago

Curious

lylemckeany 14y ago

>In the second edition Dexter added an extra page which consisted of 13 lines of punctuation marks. Dexter instructed readers to "peper and solt it as they plese". ...zero f*cks given.

ChristianMarks 14y ago

My takeaway from this is that brains are superfluous in business and may even be a hindrance. Actually a bimodal distribution with Dexter on one end and Bezos on the other is more likely to be beneficial.

bhz 14y ago

I think my favorite part is the ASCII art from 1798: http://books.google.com/books?id=uboNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=uboNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36#v=... (Yes, ASCII wasn't around in 1798.)