Never grudge a penny for a pennyworth

We all like to get a bargain or even something for nothing but it is worth remembering that other people must live too.

If you were able to take advantage of difficult times to squeeze your local shop to the bone you might turn up there one day with need for an urgent purchase only to find the shopkeeper has gone out of business. Good business is business with profits to both sides. Drive too hard a bargain and you might drive a needed service to the wall.

What we are being advised here is to deal fairly with others and don't seek to capitalise on other's misfortune. To judge what exactly fair value is can be difficult; no doubt we have all been ripped off by roguish traders at some time or another but, by and large, we get what we pay for.

Never say die! Up, man, and try

This is a clear, simple urge to be positive, not let things get you down, and never give up.

We are all prone to negative thoughts and despair at times and this is probably a natural reaction to the cares of life. A time spent in unhappy contemplation of all our woes and worries is normal just so long as we bounce back.

A healthy body leads to a healthy mind and vice versa. Therefore, the well-balanced person will use this moment of down time as a springboard for an upsurge.

Thrift is the philosopher's stone

Turning base metals into gold was the dream of the impoverished alchemist for centuries before science exposed the truth.

In an economic climate of some difficulty the restless human mind seeks ways of coping. In good times people develop extravagant tastes and waste a great deal. How much food did you throw out this week?

Learning to budget and spend your income wisely can result in a tidy sum being available for you to save. Your waste has been turned into gold - now that is a philosopher's stone worth having!

No bees, no honey; no work, no money

Bees are proverbial for their industry: they toil ceaselessly throughout the summer. As the poet Keats put it in "Ode to Autumn":

"...to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease;
For Summer has o'erbrimm'd their clammy cells."

A vision of plenty from honest toil.

We read and are impressed, but for the individual who is keen and eager to work but cannot find a job, it is like a bee that can't find flowers.

Sometimes there are no easy answers but, unlike bees, humans have unlimited powers to adapt and change. Self-employment might be the answer. Increasing education and skills can lead to new opportunities, and occasionally the frustrated, unemployed person will come up with a completely new, original idea - and make a fortune.

Necessity is the mother of invention.