There is a philosophy that success lasts 3 generations, which is somewhat prophecized in this quote.

Each generation has it better than the last but at some point the knowledge of the fundamentals of life and success is lost and the process restarts.

Not a hard and fast rule of course, but an interesting concept.

Wealth lasts three generations. The failure of the last generation, which is entirely disconnected from its original creation, is what causes the success to end.

does that apply to billionaires and the ultra rich?

Yes, because it's not that much more difficult to blow through a billion dollars than a million. Just ask Jefri Bolkiah, whose bill of amusements came to somewhere between $15 and $40 billion depending on who you ask:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefri_Bolkiah,_Prince_of_Brune...

Yes, it is that much more difficult to blow through a billion dollars than a million. The fact that one moron managed to waste a vast sum of money to amuse himself isn't proof of anything other than one moron was stupid enough to do it.

> isn't proof of anything other than one moron was stupid enough to do it.

Look, if you need a second moron stupid enough to do it, I'm just letting you know, I'm available.

Brewster's Millions[1] pales in comparison to Brewster's Billions.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster%27s_Millions_(1985_...

I'll do it for a thousand dollars.

I see what you're trying to do here, and it won't work. Because I'll do it for ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. Go big or go home.

I remember blowing my first billion. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to be poor.

> I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.

Say more, please. Interested in hearing your stories.

That's almost certainly a quote. Adding the attribution would have been helpful.

An adaptation of a famous scene from blade runner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU7Ga7qTLDU

The problem with that mindset is that once all of the experts in government die off, then the ignorant descendants run into a mass Chesterton’ fence problem and start removing important bits.

From a polemic in The Spectator:

"There is a huge cast of well-paid people, from management consultants to economic advisers, whose entire salaries are earned by ripping out Chesterton’s fences. Interestingly, these are mostly male-dominated industries (men are more prone to narrow systematising than women). Silicon Valley, which is overwhelmingly male, is possibly the worst offender of all. The very fact that a fence is over ten years old, requires atoms in its manufacture or creates employment for human beings is reason enough for them to want to get rid of it."

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/09/chestertons-fence-and-th...

And of course the fence he's talking about is print advertising. He's pretty selective about what he calls fences, though fences are a universal argument against change.

Or remove bits knowing perfectly well how important they are but because it sits their agenda.

Here is a link that seems rather official: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-03-02-0258

That is truly inspiring, I really like it.

Really good stuff. Thanks for sharing. I guess I’ve made it when my son is able to go study poetry :)

It's a bit ironic that one of his sons became president himself. I'm not sure what John Quincy Adams' sons studied (if he had any).