Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.

The saying frames classic “virtues of the marketplace” as moral disciplines rather than merely economic tactics. Coolidge’s point is that habits like steady work, frugality, and restraint are worth pursuing even when they do not immediately increase income, because they shape the kind of person one becomes—reliable, independent, and capable of governing impulses. Wealth, in this view, is at best a byproduct; the primary aim is the formation of character. The quote also implies a critique of purely instrumental thinking: if virtues are valued only for material payoff, they can be abandoned when payoff disappears, whereas character-based virtues endure as standards of conduct.