Edward Quince's Wisdom Bites: The Atlas We Carry

 Cloud Atlas is a time-looping ledger of human cause and consequence: every exploitation returns as its own invoice.

Capitalism’s glory is compounding—but compounding applies to moral choices too:

• exploitation compounds fragility
  
  

• integrity compounds trust
  
  

• patience compounds possibility
  
  

• purpose compounds permanence
  
  

Speculation—Mitchell’s “bonanza instinct”—is the infantile belief that wealth should arrive without wisdom.

A humanistic capitalist rejects that.
Purpose is a long-duration asset.
Trust is a dividend stream.
Dignity is intrinsic value.

Mitchell’s warning isn’t anti-market—it is pro-human market:
capitalism not as a predatory adulthood, but as a mature guardianship.

The Financial Takeaway:
Never interrupt compounding—of capital or character.
The future is not built by quarterly maximizers but by stewards of endurance.

Profit without purpose is noise.
Profit with purpose is music.