The Rules of Acquisition are the sacred precepts of Ferengi commerce — a codified business bible first introduced by the first Grand Nagus, Gint. Quoted constantly throughout Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and beyond, they serve as both satirical commentary on capitalism and genuine in-universe law.

Some of these reflect a moral framework humans haven’t quite adopted yet — the gap between satire and observation is narrower than it ought to be. The ones marked ★ are rules I’ve actually seen play out in the real world, whether in business dealings, career moments, or just navigating life. Some required more firsthand experience to confirm than others.

The Rules

#	Rule	Source
1	Once you have their money, you never give it back.	DS9: “The Nagus”, “Heart of Stone”
3 ★	Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to.	DS9: “The Maquis, Part II”
6	Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity. [1]	DS9: “The Nagus”; ENT: “Acquisition”
7 ★	Keep your ears open.	DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”
9 ★	Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.	DS9: “The Storyteller”
10	Greed is eternal.	DS9: “Prophet Motive”; VOY: “False Profits”
16	A deal is a deal. [2]	DS9: “Melora”
17	A contract is a contract is a contract… but only between Ferengi. [3]	DS9: “Body Parts”
18	A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.	DS9: “Heart of Stone”, “Ferengi Love Songs”
21	Never place friendship above profit.	DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”
22	A wise man can hear profit in the wind.	DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”; VOY: “False Profits”
23	Nothing is more important than your health… except for your money.	ENT: “Acquisition”
31	Never make fun of a Ferengi’s mother. [4]	DS9: “The Siege”
33 ★	It never hurts to suck up to the boss. [5]	DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”, “The Dogs of War”
34	War is good for business. [6]	DS9: “Destiny”, “The Siege of AR-558”
35	Peace is good for business. [7]	TNG: “The Perfect Mate”; DS9: “Destiny”
45	Expand or die. [8]	ENT: “Acquisition”; VOY: “False Profits”
47 ★	Don’t trust a man wearing a better suit than your own.	DS9: “Rivals”
48 ★	The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.	DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”
57 ★	Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.	DS9: “Armageddon Game”
59 ★	Free advice is seldom cheap.	DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”
62	The riskier the road, the greater the profit.	DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”, “Little Green Men”, “Business as Usual”
74 ★	Knowledge equals profit.	VOY: “Inside Man”
75	Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of latinum.	DS9: “Civil Defense”
76	Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.	DS9: “The Homecoming”
94	Females and finances don’t mix.	DS9: “Ferengi Love Songs”, “Profit and Lace”
95	Expand or die. [8]	VOY: “False Profits”; ENT: “Acquisition”
98	Every man has his price.	DS9: “In the Pale Moonlight”
102	Nature decays, but latinum lasts forever.	DS9: “The Jem’Hadar”
103	Sleep can interfere with… [9]	DS9: “Rules of Acquisition”
109	Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack.	DS9: “Rivals”
111	Treat people in your debt like family… exploit them.	DS9: “Past Tense, Part I”, “The Darkness and the Light”
112	Never have sex with the boss’ sister.	DS9: “Playing God”
125	You can’t make a deal if you’re dead.	DS9: “The Siege of AR-558”
139	Wives serve, brothers inherit.	DS9: “Necessary Evil”
168 ★	Whisper your way to success.	DS9: “Treachery, Faith and the Great River”
190 ★	Hear all, trust nothing.	DS9: “Call to Arms”
194	It’s always good business to know about new customers before they walk in your door. [10]	DS9: “Whispers”
203	New customers are like razor-toothed gree-worms. They can be succulent, but sometimes they bite back.	DS9: “Little Green Men”
208	Sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer.	DS9: “Ferengi Love Songs”
211	Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don’t hesitate to step on them.	DS9: “Bar Association”
214	Never begin a business negotiation on an empty stomach.	DS9: “The Maquis, Part I”
217	You can’t free a fish from water.	DS9: “Past Tense, Part I”
223	Unknown, but presumably concerned the relationship between “keeping busy” and “being successful”.	DS9: “Profit and Loss”
229	Latinum lasts longer than lust.	DS9: “Ferengi Love Songs”
239	Never be afraid to mislabel a product. [11]	DS9: “Body Parts”
263	Never allow doubt to tarnish your lust for latinum.	DS9: “Bar Association”
285	No good deed ever goes unpunished.	DS9: “The Collaborator”, “The Sound of Her Voice”
Unknown	A man is only worth the sum of his possessions. [12]	ENT: “Acquisition”

Here endeth the lesson.

The Great Material Continuum

The Great Material Continuum is the Ferengi spiritual and economic philosophy underlying all commerce. It holds that the universe is threaded by a great “river” of goods and resources — some worlds have too much of one thing, others too little. The wise man reads the current, navigates the flow, and profits by moving goods from where they are plentiful to where they are scarce.

It is essentially a sacred reframing of supply and demand: not mere economics, but a cosmic force that rewards those with the instinct to ride it. Ferengi who master it prosper; those who fight it, don’t.

The concept was most memorably explained in DS9: “Treachery, Faith and the Great River”, where Nog uses it to justify an elaborate chain of trades that ultimately produces exactly the item Chief O’Brien needed — demonstrating that if you trust the current, it provides.

While the Great Material Continuum is a humorous and fictional concept, it also offers a lighthearted lens through which to view real-world business transactions, career navigation, and the flow of material goods in our lives.

Notes

1. As late as 2151, the rule was quoted as slightly different: “Never allow family to stand in the way of profit” (where profit replaces opportunity). (ENT: “Acquisition”)
2. Legends of the Ferengi concludes Rule #16 with “…until a better one comes along.”
3. In the first draft script of “Body Parts”, the seventeenth rule was said to simply be “A contract is a contract is a contract,” without the added clause involving species.
4. Legends of the Ferengi concludes Rule #31 with “…insult something he cares about instead.”
5. Brunt stated a variation of this rule (without referring to it by number): “It’s never too early to suck up to the boss.”
6. Quark stated a corollary: “only from a distance; the closer to the front lines, the less profitable it gets.”
7. Although spoken before the production staff’s creation of the Rules of Acquisition, Par Lenor stated something quite similar: “Peace is good for trade… unless you happen to be an arms merchant!”
8. Rule #95 was quoted as Rule #45 in ENT: “Acquisition”. It may be that in the roughly two hundred years between the two episodes, the arrangement of the Rules slightly changed — or that the rule simply bears repeating. The rule was first mentioned in Legends of the Ferengi; Quark notes the phrase was inspired by a Breen.
9. This rule was interrupted before it could be finished.
10. This rule was actually only called “one of the high numbers” by Quark; he only thought it was rule 194.
11. In DS9: “Body Parts”, it is suggested in a dream of Quark’s that the Rules of Acquisition are merely guidelines, and the book was mislabeled by Gint so as to sell more copies than the “Suggestions of Acquisition.” This may be no more than Quark trying to justify breaking rule #17.
12. Not given a number, but considered “the most important one” by Krem.

Sources: Memory Alpha — Rules of Acquisition · Memory Alpha — Great Material Continuum · jhusel @ The RPF (book images)