You've made your big business out of nothing." "I had something to start with.

Your grandfather had a business worth not much, but it was a business, and the fundamental thing is to have machinery to work with when you start life.

I had that.

My father was narrow, contracted and a blunderer, but he made good in a small way." "And you in a big way," said Carnac, with admiration and criticism in his eyes.
He realized that John Grier had summed him up fairly when he said he was playing with life's vital things.

Somehow, he saw the other had a grip upon essentials lacking in himself; he had his tooth in the orange, as it were, and was sucking the juice of good profit from his labours.