Waste not, want not. Basically, it means that if you use something sparingly, or without using it excessively, then you may not deplete or overuse it to the extent of it becoming useless. For example: Money. If one thinks about money as a resource, one needs to use it wisely and only willingly when needed. Frugality with the use of such resource is the most important. With such frugality in place, needing to manage and maintaining one's supply of money may never be a worry or an issue in the future due to wise use. Wise use, in this case, can be attested to only using money when needed and never wasting; hence, the proverb "Waste not, want not."

As you learn not to be wasteful there is the complimentary effect of diminishing wantfulness. Wantfulness is probably not a word but I'm an American so the rules of English don't apply to me.

The paragraph seems to say the following about the phrase "waste not, want not": 1. One interpretation of the phrase is that we should not use up the resources, so that we won't be in need of them unnecessarily. 2. An alternative interpretation is that we should use up the existing resources, then get new supply to replenish them. This is the normal cycle and if we suppress it ("waste NOT"), we don't get to enjoy new things ("want NOT"), which is bad. 3. But are the above two the only possible interpretations? Does it depend on one's attitude toward life how to interpret it? Benjamin Franklin was a staunch advocate of the #1 attitude, but the author of the paragraph is presenting an opposing view too, and asking the reader what he thinks. Interestingly, the world increasingly evolves around the #2 principle, proving Franklin wrong. There is no denying that the consumption-replenish cycle underlies every facet of life in the modern society.