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THINK
AND
GROW RICH

by
Napoleon Hill

NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Author’s Preface
...
3
Chapter 1 — Introduction
...
9
Chapter 2 — Desire: The Turning Point of All Achievement
...
22
Chapter 3 — Faith Visualization of, and Belief in Attainment of Desire
...
40
Chapter 4 — Auto-Suggestion the Medium for Influencing the Subconscious Mind
...
58
Chapter 5 — Specialized Knowledge, Personal Experiences or Observations
...
64
Chapter 6 — Imagination: the Workshop of the Mind
...
77
Chapter 7 — Organized Planning, the Crystallization of Desire into Action
...
90
Chapter 8 — Decision: the Mastery of Procrastination
...
128
Chapter 9 — Persistence: the Sustained Effort Necessary to Induce Faith
...
138
Chapter 10 — Power of the Master Mind: the Driving Force
...
153
Chapter 11 — The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
...
160
Chapter 12 — The Subconscious Mind: The Connecting Link
...
180
Chapter 13 — The Brain: A Broadcasting and Receiving Station for Thought
...
187
Chapter 14 — The Sixth Sense: The Door to the Temple of Wisdom
...
193
Chapter 15 — How to Outwit the Six Ghosts of Fear
...
203

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

AUTHOR’S PREFACE
—
IN EVERY chapter of this book, mention has been made of the money-making
secret which has made fortunes for more than five hundred exceedingly wealthy
men whom I have carefully analyzed over a long period of years
...
The canny, lovable old Scotsman carelessly tossed it into my
mind, when I was but a boy
...

When he saw that I had grasped the idea, he asked if I would be willing to spend
twenty years or more, preparing myself to take it to the world, to men and women
who, without the secret, might go through life as failures
...
Carnegie’s cooperation, I have kept my promise
...
It was Mr
...

He believed the formula should be taught in all public schools and colleges, and
expressed the opinion that if it were properly taught it would so revolutionize the
entire educational system that the time spent in school could be reduced to less
than half
...
Schwab, and other young men of Mr
...
Carnegie that much of that which is taught in the schools is
of no value whatsoever in connection with the business of earning a living or accumulating riches
...
Moreover, his coaching made fortunes for everyone of them who followed
his instructions
...
Carnegie proved that

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

his formula will work for all who are ready for it
...
Schwab-made him a huge fortune in both
money and OPPORTUNITY
...
These facts-and they are facts
well known to almost everyone who knew Mr
...

Even before it had undergone twenty years of practical testing, the secret was
passed on to more than one hundred thousand men and women who have used it
for their personal benefit, as Mr
...
Some have
made fortunes with it
...
A clergyman used it so effectively that it brought him an income of
upwards of $75,000
...

Arthur Nash, a Cincinnati tailor, used his near-bankrupt business as a “guinea
pig” on which to test the formula
...
It is still thriving, although Mr
...
The experiment
was so unique that newspapers and magazines, gave it more than a million dollars’ worth of laudatory publicity
...
He was ready for
it-so ready that he gave up his profession and studied law
...

I gave the secret to Jennings Randolph, the day he graduated from College, and
he has used it so successfully that he is now serving his third term as a Member
of Congress, with an excellent opportunity to keep on using it until it carries him
to the White House
...
G
...

The secret to which I refer has been mentioned no fewer than a hundred times,
throughout this book
...
That is why Mr
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

If you are READY to put it to use, you will recognize this secret at least once in
every chapter
...

While this book was being written, my own son, who was then finishing the last
year of his college work, picked up the manuscript of chapter two, read it, and discovered the secret for himself
...
His story has been briefly described in chapter two
...
And, too, if you have ever been
discouraged, if you have had difficulties to surmount which took the very soul
out of you, if you have tried and failed, if you were ever handicapped by illness
or physical affliction, this story of my son’s discovery and use of the Carnegie
formula may prove to be the oasis in the Desert of Lost Hope, for which you have
been searching
...
It was passed on to every soldier who fought in the war, carefully wrapped
in the training received before going to the front
...

More than twenty years ago, Hon
...
Quezon (then Resident Commissioner of the Philippine Islands), was inspired by the secret to gain freedom for
his people
...
A peculiar thing about this secret is that those who once acquire
it and use it, find themselves literally swept on to success, with but little effort,
and they never again submit to failure! If you doubt this, study the names of those
who have used it, wherever they have been mentioned, check their records for
yourself, and be convinced
...
It cannot be had at any price by those who are not intentionally
searching for it
...
One part is already in possession of those
who are ready for it
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

Education has nothing to do with it
...
Edison, and he used it so intelligently
that he became the world’s leading inventor, although he had but three months
of schooling
...
Edison
...
You will find his story at the beginning of the first chapter
...

How do I know these things? You should have the answer before you finish this
book
...

While I was performing the twenty year task of research, which I had undertaken at Mr
...
ROCKEFELLER
THOMAS A
...
VANDERLIP
F
...
WOOLWORTH
COL
...
DOLLAR
EDWARD A
...
BARNES
ARTHUR BRISBANE
WOODROW WILSON
WM
...
BOK
FRANK A
...
GARY
DR
...
PATTERSON
JULIUS ROSENWALD
STUART AUSTIN WIER
DR
...
ALEXANDER
J
...
CHAPPLINE
HON
...

JOHN WANAMAKER
JAMES J
...
PARKER
E
...
STATLER
HENRY L
...
K
...
DAVIS
ELBERT HUBBARD
WILBUR WRIGHT
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
DR
...
ODGEN ARMOUR
CHARLES M
...
WILLIAMS
DR
...
WEEKS
JUDGE DANIEL T
...
I have never
known anyone who was inspired to use the secret, who did not achieve noteworthy success in his chosen calling
...

From these two facts I draw the conclusion that the secret is more important, as
a part of the knowledge essential for self-determination, than any which one receives through what is popularly known as “education
...
As far as
schooling is concerned, many of these men had very little
...
”
Henry Ford never reached high school, let alone college
...

Somewhere, as you read, the secret to which I refer will jump from the page and
stand boldly before you, IF YOU ARE READY FOR IT! When it appears, you will
recognize it
...

We pass now, to Chapter One, and to the story of my very dear friend, who has generously acknowledged having seen the mystic sign, and whose business achievements are evidence enough that he turned down a glass
...
The problems arising from one’s endeavor to earn a living,
to find hope, courage, contentment and peace of mind; to accumulate riches and
to enjoy freedom of body and spirit
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

As a final word of preparation, before you begin the first chapter, may I offer
one brief suggestion which may provide a clue by which the Carnegie secret may
be recognized? It is this-ALL ACHIEVEMENT, ALL EARNED RICHES, HAVE
THEIR BEGINNING IN AN IDEA!
If you are ready for the secret, you already possess one half of it, therefore, you
will readily recognize the other half the moment it reaches your mind
...
EDISON
TRULY, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they are mixed
with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their
translation into riches, or other material objects
...
Barnes discovered how true it is that
men really do THINK AND GROW RICH
...
It came little by little, beginning with a BURNING DESIRE to become
a business associate of the great Edison
...
He
wanted to work with Edison, not for him
...
When this DESIRE,
or impulse of thought, first flashed into his mind he was in no position to act upon
it
...
He did not know Mr
...
These difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority of men from making any
attempt to carry out the desire
...
(To the uninitiated, this means that he went to East Orange on a freight
train)
...
Edison’s laboratory, and announced he had
come to go into business with the inventor
...
Edison said, “He stood there before
me, looking like an ordinary tramp, but there was something in the expression
of his face which conveyed the impression that he was determined to get what he
had come after
...
I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until
he succeeded
...
”

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

Just what young Barnes said to Mr
...
Edison, himself, said so! It could not have been
the young man’s appearance which got him his start in the Edison office, for that
was definitely against him
...
If the significance of this statement could be conveyed to every person who reads it, there
would be no need for the remainder of this book
...
He did get
a chance to work in the Edison offices, at a very nominal wage, doing work that
was unimportant to Edison, but most important to Barnes, because it gave him
an opportunity to display his “merchandise” where his intended “partner” could
see it
...
Apparently nothing happened to bring the coveted goal
which Barnes had set up in his mind as his DEFINITE MAJOR PURPOSE
...
He was constantly intensifying his DESIRE to become the business associate of Edison
...
” Barnes was ready for a business association with Edison,
moreover, he was DETERMINED TO REMAIN READY UNTIL HE GOT THAT
WHICH HE WAS SEEKING
...
” But, he did say, “I came here to go into business
with Edison, and I’ll accomplish this end if it takes the remainder of my life
...

When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a different
direction than Barnes had expected
...
It has
a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form
of misfortune, or temporary defeat
...
Mr
...
His salesmen were
not enthusiastic over the machine
...
Barnes saw his opportunity
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

Barnes knew he could sell the Edison Dictating Machine
...
He did sell the machine
...
Out of that business association grew the slogan, “Made by Edison
and installed by Barnes
...
Out of
it Barnes has made himself rich in money, but he has done something infinitely
greater, he has proved that one really may “Think and Grow Rich
...
Perhaps it has brought him two or three million dollars, but the amount, whatever it is, becomes insignificant when compared with
the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that an intangible
impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart by the application of known principles
...
He had nothing to start with, except the capacity
to KNOW WHAT HE WANTED, AND THE DETERMINATION TO STAND BY
THAT DESIRE UNTIL HE REALIZED IT
...
He
had but little education
...
But he did have initiative, faith, and
the will to win
...

Now, let us look at a different situation, and study a man who had plenty of tangible evidence of riches, but lost it, because he stopped three feet short of the goal
he was seeking
...
Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time
or another
...
U
...
He had never heard that
more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from
the earth
...
The going
was hard, but his lust for gold was definite
...
He
needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface
...
” They got together money for the needed machinery, had it shipped
...

The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter
...
Then would come the big killing in profits
...

Finally, they decided to QUIT
...
Some “junk” men are dumb, but
not this one! He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little
calculating
...
” His calculations showed that the vein would
be found JUST THREE FEET FROM WHERE THE DARBYS HAD STOPPED
DRILLING! That is exactly where it was found!
The “Junk” man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew
enough to seek expert counsel before giving up
...
U
...
The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in him
...

Long afterward, Mr
...
The discovery came after he
went into the business of selling life insurance
...
”
Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary
defeat, and, perhaps, some failure
...
That is exactly what the majority of men do
...
Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and
cunning
...


A FIFTY-CENT LESSON IN PERSISTENCE
Shortly after Mr
...

One afternoon he was helping his uncle grind wheat in an old fashioned mill
...
Quietly, the door was opened, and a small colored child, the daughter of a
tenant, walked in and took her place near the door
...
” “I’ll not
do it,” the uncle retorted, “Now you run on home
...

But she did not move
...

When he looked up and saw her still standing there, he yelled at her, “I told you
to go on home! Now go, or I’ll take a switch to you
...
The uncle dropped a sack of grain he was about to
pour into the mill hopper, picked up a barrel stave, and started toward the child
with an expression on his face that indicated trouble
...
He was certain he was about to witness a murder
...
He knew that colored children were not supposed
to defy white people in that part of the country
...
The
child took the money and slowly backed toward the door, never taking her eyes
off the man whom she had just conquered
...
He was pondering, with awe, over the whipping
he had just taken
...
Darby, too, was doing some thinking
...
How did she do it? What happened to his uncle that caused
him to lose his fierceness and become as docile as a lamb? What strange power
did this child use that made her master over her superior? These and other similar questions flashed into Darby’s mind, but he did not find the answer until years
later, when he told me the story
...
Strangely, too, I had
devoted nearly a quarter of a century to the study of the power which enabled an
ignorant, illiterate colored child to conquer an intelligent man
...
Darby repeated the story of the unusual conquest, and finished by asking, “What can you make of it? What strange
power did that child use, that so completely whipped my uncle?”
The answer to his question will be found in the principles described in this book
...
It contains details and instructions sufficient to
enable anyone to understand, and apply the same force which the little child accidentally stumbled upon
...

Somewhere in the book you will find an idea that will quicken your receptive
powers, and place at your command, for your own benefit, this same irresistible
power
...
It may come in the form of
a single idea
...
Again, it may
cause you to go back into your past experiences of failure or defeat, and bring to
the surface some lesson by which you can regain all that you lost through defeat
...
Darby the power unwittingly used by the little colored
child, he quickly retraced his thirty years of experience as a life insurance sales-

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

man, and frankly acknowledged that his success in that field was due, in no small
degree, to the lesson he had learned from the child
...
Darby pointed out: “every time a prospect tried to bow me out, without buying, I saw that child standing there in the old mill, her big eyes glaring in defiance,
and I said to myself, `I’ve gotta make this sale
...
”
He recalled, too, his mistake in having stopped only three feet from gold, “but,”
he said, “that experience was a blessing in disguise
...
”
This story of Mr
...

Life is strange, and often imponderable! Both the successes and the failures have
their roots in simple experiences
...
Darby’s experiences were commonplace
and simple enough, yet they held the answer to his destiny in life, therefore they
were as important (to him) as life itself
...
But what of
the man who has neither the time, nor the inclination to study failure in search of
knowledge that may lead to success?
Where, and how is he to learn the art of converting defeat into stepping stones to
opportunity?
In answer to these questions, this book was written
...

One sound idea is all that one needs to achieve success
...

Before we go any further in our approach to the description of these principles,
we believe you are entitled to receive this important suggestion
...

This is an astounding statement, and all the more so, when we take into consideration the popular belief, that riches come only to those who work hard and long
...

You, and every other person, ought to be interested in knowing how to acquire
that state of mind which will attract riches
...

Without that research, this book could not have been written
...
Then the depression began to fade into nothingness
...

Observe very closely, as soon as you master the principles of this philosophy, and
begin to follow the instructions for applying those principles, your financial status will begin to improve, and everything you touch will begin to transmute itself
into an asset for your benefit
...
” He knows all the rules which will NOT work
...
This book was written for those who seek the
rules which have made others successful, and are willing to stake everything on
those rules
...
The first thing I
did with it was to turn to the word “impossible,” and neatly clip it out of the book
...
Success comes to those who
become SUCCESS CONSCIOUS
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

The object of this book is to help all who seek it, to learn the art of changing their
minds from FAILURE CONSCIOUSNESS to SUCCESS CONSCIOUSNESS
...
Some who will
read this, will believe that no one can THINK AND GROW RICH
...

These unfortunate people remind me of a prominent Chinese, who came to America to be educated in American ways
...
One
day President Harper met this young Oriental on the campus, stopped to chat
with him for a few minutes, and asked what had impressed him as being the most
noticeable characteristic of the American people
...
Your eyes are off
slant!” What do we say about the Chinese? We refuse to believe that which we do
not understand
...
Sure, the other fellow’s eyes are “off slant,” BECAUSE THEY
ARE NOT THE SAME AS OUR OWN
...
Perhaps one
person in every hundred thousand knows the secret of Ford’s success, and those
who do know are too modest, or too reluctant, to speak of it, because of its simplicity
...

A few years back, Ford decided to produce his now famous V-8 motor
...
The design was placed on paper,
but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was simply impossible to cast an eightcylinder gas engine block in one piece
...
” “But,” they replied, “it’s impossible!” “Go ahead,”
Ford commanded, “and stay on the job until you succeed no matter how much
time is required
...
There was nothing else for them to do, if they were
to remain on the Ford staff
...
Another six
months passed, and still nothing happened
...

“Go right ahead,” said Ford, “I want it, and I’ll have it
...

The Ford DETERMINATION had won once more!
This story may not be described with minute accuracy, but the sum and substance
of it is correct
...
You’ll not have to look very far
...
One
of these is DESIRE: knowing what one wants
...
If you can do this, if you can lay your finger on the particular
group of principles which made Henry Ford rich, you can equal his achievements
in almost any calling for which you are suited
...

When Henley wrote the prophetic lines, “I am the Master of my Fate, I am the Captain of my Soul,” he should have informed us that we are the Masters of our Fate,
the Captains of our Souls, because we have the power to control our thoughts
...

If the poet had told us of this great truth, we would know WHY IT IS that we are
the Masters of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls
...

He should have told us, too, that our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and, by means with which no man

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

is familiar, these “magnets” attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances
of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts
...

But, being a poet, and not a philosopher, Henley contented himself by stating a
great truth in poetic form, leaving those who followed him to interpret the philosophical meaning of his lines
...

We are now ready to examine the first of these principles
...
The principles were gathered from the life experiences of more than 500
men who actually accumulated riches in huge amounts; men who began in poverty, with but little education, without influence
...
You can put them to work for your own enduring benefit
...

Before you read the next chapter, I want you to know that it conveys factual information which might easily change your entire financial destiny, as it has so
definitely brought changes of stupendous proportions to two people described
...
One of them has been my closest personal friend for almost twenty-five
years, the other is my own son
...

Almost fifteen years ago, I delivered the Commencement Address at Salem College, Salem, West Virginia
...
The young man
is now a Member of Congress, and an important factor in the present administra-

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

tion
...
It gives you
an idea of the rewards to come
...

“With apologies, I must state that the suggestion, if acted upon, will mean several years of
labor and responsibility for you, but I am en-heartened to make the suggestion, because I know
your great love for rendering useful service
...
In that address, you planted in my mind an idea which has been responsible for the opportunity I now have to serve the people of my State, and will be responsible, in
a very large measure, for whatever success I may have in the future
...

“I recall, as though it were yesterday, the marvelous description you gave of the method by
which Henry Ford, with but little schooling, without a dollar, with no influential friends, rose to
great heights
...

“Thousands of young people will finish their schooling this year, and within the next few years
...
They will want to know where to turn, what to do, to get started in life
...

“If there is any possible way that you can afford to render so great a service, may I offer the
suggestion that you include with every book, one of your Personal Analysis Charts, in order that
the purchaser of the book may have the benefit of a complete self-inventory, indicating, as you
indicated to me years ago, exactly what is standing in the way of success
...

The service would be priceless
...

“You know the problems of those who face the necessity of beginning all over again
...
If anyone
can help them, you can
...
“With best wishes, believe me,
“Cordially yours,
“JENNINGS RANDOLPH”

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

Chapter 2
DESIRE: THE STARTING POINT OF ALL ACHIEVEMENT
—
The First Step toward Riches
WHEN Edwin C
...
J
...
Edison’s office, his
mind was at work
...
He heard himself asking Mr
...

Barnes’ desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a keen, pulsating DESIRE, which transcended everything else
...

The desire was not new when he approached Edison
...
In the beginning, when the desire first appeared in
his mind, it may have been, probably was, only a wish, but it was no mere wish
when he appeared before Edison with it
...
Barnes again stood before Edison, in the same office
where he first met the inventor
...
He was in business with Edison
...

Today, people who know Barnes envy him, because of the “break” life yielded
him
...

Barnes succeeded because he chose a definite goal, placed all his energy, all his
will power, all his effort, everything back of that goal
...
He was content to start in the most menial work,
as long as it provided an opportunity to take even one step toward his cherished
goal
...
During all those years not one ray of hope, not one promise of attainment of
his DESIRE had been held out to him
...

It is a remarkable illustration of the power of a DEFINITE DESIRE
...
Edison, more than
he wanted anything else
...
But
he BURNED ALL BRIDGES BEHIND HIM
...

When he went to Orange, he did not say to himself, “I will try to induce Edison to
give me a job of some soft
...

He did not say, “I will work there for a few months, and if I get no encouragement,
I will quit and get a job somewhere else
...
I will
do anything Edison tells me to do, but before I am through, I will be his associate
...
” He said, “There is but ONE thing in
this world that I am determined to have, and that is a business association with
Thomas A
...
I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want
...
He had to win or perish!
That is all there is to the Barnes story of success! A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which
insured his success on the battlefield
...
He loaded his soldiers into
boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave
the order to burn the ships that had carried them
...
That means that we
cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice-we win-or
we perish! They won
...
Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that
state of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE TO WIN, essential to success
...
They went
into a conference to decide if they would try to rebuild, or leave Chicago and start
over in a more promising section of the country
...

The merchant who decided to stay and rebuild pointed a finger at the remains of
his store, and said, “Gentlemen, on that very spot I will build the world’s greatest
store, no matter how many times it may burn down
...
The store was built
...
The easy thing for Marshal Field to have done, would have been exactly
what his fellow merchants did
...

Mark well this difference between Marshal Field and the other merchants, because it is the same difference which distinguishes Edwin C
...
It is the
same difference which distinguishes practically all who succeed from those who
fail
...
Wishing will not bring riches
...

The method by which DESIRE for riches can be transmuted into its financial
equivalent, consists of six definite, practical steps, viz: First
...
It is not sufficient merely to say “I want
plenty of money
...
Be definite as to the amount
...

Second
...
(There is no such reality as “something for nothing
...
Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire
...
Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once,
whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action
...
Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to
acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in
return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to
accumulate it
...
Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring
at night, and once after arising in the morning
...

It is important that you follow the instructions described in these six steps
...
You may complain that it is impossible for you to “see yourself in possession of money” before you actually have it
...
If you truly DESIRE money so keenly that your desire is an
obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire
it
...

Only those who become “money conscious” ever accumulate great riches
...

To the uninitiated, who has not been schooled in the working principles of the
human mind, these instructions may appear impractical
...

It may be of further help to know that the six steps here recommended
were carefully scrutinized by the late Thomas A
...

The steps call for no “hard labor
...
They do not require
one to become ridiculous, or credulous
...
But the successful application of these six steps does call for sufficient imagination to enable one to see, and to understand, that accumulation

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

of money cannot be left to chance, good fortune, and luck
...

You may as well know, right here, that you can never have riches in great quantities, UNLESS you can work yourself into a white heat of DESIRE for money, and
actually BELIEVE you will possess it
...

Christianity is the greatest potential power in the world today, because its founder was an intense dreamer who had the vision and the imagination to see realities
in their mental and spiritual form before they had been transmuted into physical
form
...
Never, in the history of America has there been so great an opportunity for practical dreamers as now exists
...
A new race is about to be run
...
The rules of the race have changed, because we now live in a CHANGED
WORLD that definitely favors the masses, those who had but little or no opportunity to win under the conditions existing during the depression, when fear paralyzed growth and development
...

Back of all this demand for new and better things, there is one quality which one
must possess to win, and that is DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE, the knowledge
of what one wants, and a burning DESIRE to possess it
...
This changed world requires practical dreamers who can, and will put their
dreams into action
...


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We who desire to accumulate riches, should remember the real leaders of the
world always have been men who harnessed, and put into practical use, the intangible, unseen forces of unborn opportunity, and have converted those forces, [or
impulses of thought], into sky-scrapers, cities, factories, airplanes, automobiles,
and every form of convenience that makes life more pleasant
...

Those who are afraid of new ideas are doomed before they start
...
True, there is no wild
and woolly west to be conquered, as in the days of the Covered Wagon; but there
is a vast business, financial, and industrial world to be remoulded and redirected
along new and better lines
...
To win the big stakes in this changed world, you must catch the
spirit of the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to civilization all
that it has of value, the spirit which serves as the life-blood of our own countryyour opportunity and mine, to develop and market our talents
...

Instead, the world worshipped at his shrine, thus proving once more that “SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES, FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS
...

Henry Ford, poor and uneducated, dreamed of a horseless carriage, went to work
with what tools he possessed, without waiting for opportunity to favor him, and
now evidence of his dream belts the entire earth
...

Thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity, began
where he stood to put his dream into action, and despite more than ten thousand
failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality
...

Lincoln dreamed of freedom for the black slaves, put his dream into action, and
barely missed living to see a united North and South translate his dream into
reality
...
Now
one may see evidence all over the world, that they dreamed soundly
...

Evidence that he did not dream in vain, may be found in every wireless and radio in the world
...
It made the people of every nation on
earth back-door neighbors
...

It may interest you to know that Marconi’s “friends” had him taken into custody,
and examined in a psychopathic hospital, when he announced he had discovered
a principle through which he could send messages through the air, without the
aid of wires, or other direct physical means of communication
...

The world has become accustomed to new discoveries
...

“The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a dream
...
The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of
the soul, a waking angel stirs
...
”
Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world
...
The world depression brought the opportunity you have been
waiting for
...

The world is filled with an abundance of OPPORTUNITY which the dreamers of
the past never knew
...
Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness, or lack of
ambition
...
If you think
it does, take a trip to Tennessee, and witness what a dreamer President has done
in the way of harnessing, and using the great water power of America
...

You have been disappointed, you have undergone defeat during the depression,
you have felt the great heart within you crushed until it bled
...

Remember, too, that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass through
many heartbreaking struggles before they “arrive
...
”
John Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim’s Progress, which is among the finest of all English literature, after he had been confined in prison and sorely punished, because
of his views on the subject of religion
...
Henry discovered the genius which slept within his brain, after he had met
with great misfortune, and was confined in a prison cell, in Columbus, Ohio
...
Strange and varied are the ways of life, and
stranger still are the ways of Infinite Intelligence, through which men are sometimes forced to undergo all sorts of punishment before discovering their own
brains, and their own capacity to create useful ideas through imagination
...

Charles Dickens began by pasting labels on blacking pots
...
That tragedy produced, first, David Copperfield, then a succession of other works that made this a richer and better world for all who read his
books
...

Helen Keller became deaf, dumb, and blind shortly after birth
...
Her entire life has served as evidence that no one ever is defeated until
defeat has been accepted as a reality
...
The world was made better for his having lived,
because he clothed beautiful thoughts in poetry, and thereby plucked a thorn and
planted a rose in its place
...
Washington was born in slavery, handicapped by race and color
...

Beethoven was deaf, Milton was blind, but their names will last as long as time
endures, because they dreamed and translated their dreams into organized
thought
...
If you have these states of mind, and a working
knowledge of the principles described, all else that you need will come to you,
when you are READY for it
...

Every friend whom not thy fantastic will, but the great and tender soul in thee
craveth, shall lock thee in his embrace
...
No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he can acquire it
...
Open-mindedness is essential for belief
...

Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance
and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

“For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task
...
”

DESIRE OUTWITS MOTHER NATURE
As a fitting climax to this chapter, I wish to introduce one of the most unusual
persons I have ever known
...
He came into the world without any physical sign of ears, and
the doctor admitted, when pressed for an opinion, that the child might be deaf,
and mute for life
...
I had the right to do so, I was the child’s father
...
I decided that my son would hear and
speak
...

In my own mind I knew that my son would hear and speak
...
I thought of the words of the immortal
Emerson, “The whole course of things goes to teach us faith
...

There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening, we shall hear the right
word
...
From that desire I never receded, not for a second
...
” For the first time, I wondered if that statement were true
...
Even though he might hear and speak, he was obviously disfigured
for life
...


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What could I do about it? Somehow I would find a way to transplant into that
child’s mind my own BURNING DESIRE for ways and means of conveying sound
to his brain without the aid of ears
...

All this thinking took place in my own mind, but I spoke of it to no one
...

As he grew older, and began to take notice of things around him, we observed
that he had a slight degree of hearing
...
That was all I wanted to know! I
was convinced that if he could hear, even slightly, he might develop still greater
hearing capacity
...
It came from
an entirely unexpected source
...
When the child heard the music for the first time, he went
into ecstasies, and promptly appropriated the machine
...
” On one occasion, he played that piece over and over, for almost two hours, standing in front
of the victrola, with his teeth clamped on the edge of the case
...

Shortly after he appropriated the victrola, I discovered that he could hear me
quite clearly when I spoke with my lips touching his mastoid bone, or at the base
of the brain
...
By that time he was making stabs at speaking certain words
...

Having determined that he could hear the sound of my voice plainly, I began,
immediately, to transfer to his mind the desire to hear and speak
...

There was one story in particular, which I emphasized by giving it some new and
dramatic coloring each time it was told
...
Despite
the fact that all the philosophy I had examined clearly indicated that EVERY ADVERSITY BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT ADVANTAGE,
I must confess that I had not the slightest idea how this affliction could ever become an asset
...

Reason told me plainly, that there was no adequate compensation for the lack of
ears and natural hearing equipment
...

As I analyze the experience in retrospect, I can see now, that my son’s faith in me
had much to do with the astounding results
...
I sold him the idea that he had a distinct
advantage over his older brother, and that this advantage would reflect itself in
many ways
...
They always did
...
I sold him the idea, too, that when he became old enough to sell newspapers,
(his older brother had already become a newspaper merchant), he would have a
big advantage over his brother, for the reason that people would pay him extra
money for his wares, because they could see that he was a bright, industrious boy,
despite the fact he had no ears
...
Moreover,
he had not the slightest tendency to be self-conscious, because of his affliction
...
For several months he begged for the privilege
of selling newspapers, but his mother would not give her consent
...

Finally, he took matters in his own hands
...
He borrowed six cents in capital from the neighborhood shoemaker, invested it in papers, sold out, reinvested, and kept repeating until late in the evening
...

When we got home that night, we found him in bed asleep, with the money tightly
clenched in his hand
...
Of all things! Crying
over her son’s first victory seemed so inappropriate
...

I laughed heartily, for I knew that my endeavor to plant in the child’s mind an attitude of faith in himself had been successful
...
I saw a brave, ambitious, selfreliant little business man whose stock in himself had been increased a hundred
percent, because he had gone into business on his own initiative, and had won
...

Later events proved this to be true
...
When the
“little deaf boy” wanted something, he would plan a way to earn the money, then
buy it for himself
...

The little deaf boy went through the grades, high school, and college without being
able to hear his teachers, excepting when they shouted loudly, at close range
...
WE WOULD NOT PERMIT HIM TO LEARN
THE SIGN LANGUAGE
...

While he was in high school, he tried an electrical hearing aid, but it was of no
value to him; due, we believed, to a condition that was disclosed when the child
was six, by Dr
...
Gordon Wilson, of Chicago, when he operated on one side of the
boy’s head, and discovered that there was no sign of natural hearing equipment
...

Through what seemed to be mere chance, he came into possession of another
electrical hearing device, which was sent to him on trial
...
Finally he picked the instrument up, and more or less carelessly, placed it on his head, hooked up the
battery, and lo! as if by a stroke of magic, his lifelong DESIRE FOR NORMAL
HEARING BECAME A REALITY! For the first time in his life he heard practically

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

as well as any person with normal hearing
...
”
Overjoyed because of the Changed World which had been brought to him through
his hearing device, he rushed to the telephone, called his mother, and heard her
voice perfectly
...
He heard the radio
...
For the first
time in his life, he could converse freely with other people, without the necessity
of their having to speak loudly
...
We had refused to accept Nature’s error, and, by PERSISTENT DESIRE,
we had induced Nature to correct that error, through the only practical means
available
...

The boy still had to find a definite and practical way to convert his handicap into
an equivalent asset
...

Something in his letter; something, perhaps which was not written on the lines,
but back of them; caused the company to invite him to New York
...
It was this impulse of thought which converted his affliction into an asset, destined to pay dividends in both money and
happiness to thousands for all time to come
...

Then and there, he reached a decision to devote the remainder of his life to rendering useful service to the hard of hearing
...
” When this was done, he put in writing a two-year plan, based upon his

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NAPOLEON HILL

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findings
...

Little did he dream, when he went to work, that he was destined to bring hope
and practical relief to thousands of deafened people who, without his help, would
have been doomed forever to deaf mutism
...
I had never heard of such a form of education, therefore I visited the class, skeptical but hopeful that my time would not
be entirely wasted
...
I saw deaf mutes actually being taught to hear and to speak,
through application of the self-same principle I had used, more than twenty years
previously, in saving my son from deaf mutism
...
It has been done for one; it will
be done for others
...
The doctor who
attended at his birth told us, confidentially, the child might never hear or speak
...
Irving Voorhees, a noted specialist on such cases, examined
Blair very thoroughly
...
” But the lad does hear, despite the fact that X-ray
pictures show there is no opening in the skull, whatsoever, from where his ears
should be to the brain
...
It would be sacrilege for me to even conjecture as to how
Nature performed this miracle
...

It is my duty, and a privilege to say I believe, and not without reason, that nothing
is impossible to the person who backs DESIRE with enduring FAITH
...
Blair DESIRED normal hearing; now he has it! He was born with
a handicap which might easily have sent one with a less defined DESIRE to the
street with a bundle of pencils and a tin cup
...

The little “white lies” I planted in his mind when he was a child, by leading him
to BELIEVE his affliction would become a great asset, which he could capitalize,
has justified itself
...
These qualities are free to everyone
...
Authors sometimes make the mistake of writing of subjects of which they
have but superficial, or very elementary knowledge
...
Perhaps it was providential that the experience came as it did, for surely no one is better prepared than he, to serve as an
example of what happens when DESIRE is put to the test
...
Perhaps science will uncover this secret
...

That DESIRE has now become a reality
...
That DESIRE has been realized
...
It consisted of three very definite facts; first, I MIXED FAITH with the
DESIRE for normal hearing, which I passed on to my son
...
Third, HE BELIEVED ME!
As this chapter was being completed, news came of the death of Mme
...
One short paragraph in the news dispatch gives the clue to this unusual
woman’s stupendous success as a singer
...


37

NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

Early in her career, Mme
...
But, he did not test it
...
Buy a sewing machine, and go to work
...
”
Never is a long time! The director of the Vienna Court Opera knew much about
the technique of singing
...
If he had known more of that power, he
would not have made the mistake of condemning genius without giving it an opportunity
...
He became
worse as time went on, and finally was taken to the hospital for an operation
...
The doctor warned me that there was little if any
chance of my ever seeing him alive again
...

It was not the opinion of the patient
...
” The
attending nurse looked at me with pity
...

After it was all over, his physician said, “Nothing but his own desire to live saved
him
...
”
I believe in the power of DESIRE backed by FAITH, because I have seen this
power lift men from lowly beginnings to places of power and wealth; I have seen
it rob the grave of its victims; I have seen it serve as the medium by which men
staged a comeback after having been defeated in a hundred different ways; I have
seen it provide my own son with a normal, happy, successful life, despite Nature’s
having sent him into the world without ears
...
This message is going out
to the world at the end of the longest, and perhaps, the most devastating depression America has ever known
...
To all these I wish
to convey the thought that all achievement, no matter what may be its nature, or
its purpose, must begin with an intense, BURNING DESIRE for something definite
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

Chapter 3
FAITH VISUALIZATION OF, AND BELIEF IN ATTAINMENT OF
DESIRE
—
The Second Step toward Riches
FAITH is the head chemist of the mind
...

The emotions of FAITH, LOVE, and SEX are the most powerful of all the major
positive emotions
...

Love and faith are psychic; related to the spiritual side of man
...
The mixing, or blending, of these three
emotions has the effect of opening a direct line of communication between the
finite, thinking mind of man, and Infinite Intelligence
...

As an illustration, consider the purpose for which you are, presumably, reading
this book
...
By following
the instructions laid down in the chapters on auto-suggestion, and the subconscious mind, as summarized in the chapter on auto-suggestion, you may CONVINCE the subconscious mind that you believe you will receive that for which you
ask, and it will act upon that belief, which your subconscious mind passes back to

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NAPOLEON HILL

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you in the form of “FAITH,” followed by definite plans for procuring that which
you desire
...
Faith is a state of mind which you
may develop at will, after you have mastered the thirteen principles, because it is
a state of mind which develops voluntarily, through application and use of these
principles
...
Perhaps the meaning
may be made clearer through the following explanation as to the way men sometimes become criminals
...
If they remain in contact
with crime for a time, they become accustomed to it, and endure it
...
”
This is the equivalent of saying that any impulse of thought which is repeatedly
passed on to the subconscious mind is, finally, accepted and acted upon by the
subconscious mind, which proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical
equivalent, by the most practical procedure available
...

The emotions, or the “feeling” portion of thoughts, are the factors which give
thoughts vitality, life, and action
...

Not only thought impulses which have been mixed with FAITH, but those which
have been mixed with any of the positive emotions, or any of the negative emotions, may reach, and influence the subconscious mind
...
This accounts for the strange phenomenon which so many millions of
people experience, referred to as “misfortune,” or “bad luck
...
They are the
creators of their own “misfortunes,” because of this negative BELIEF, which is
picked up by the subconscious mind, and translated into its physical equivalent
...
Your BELIEF, or FAITH, is the element which determines the action of your subconscious mind
...

To make this “deceit” more realistic, conduct yourself just as you would, if you
were ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MATERIAL THING WHICH YOU
ARE DEMANDING, when you call upon your subconscious mind
...

Surely, enough has been stated to give a starting point from which one may,
through experiment and practice, acquire the ability to mix FAITH with any order given to the subconscious mind
...
It cannot come by merely reading instructions
...
The mind comes, finally, to take
on the nature of the influences which dominate it
...

A mind dominated by positive emotions, becomes a favorable abode for the state
of mind known as faith
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

FAITH IS A STATE OF MIND WHICH MAY BE INDUCED BY AUTOSUGGESTION
All down the ages, the religionists have admonished struggling humanity to “have
faith” in this, that, and the other dogma or creed, but they have failed to tell people HOW to have faith
...
”
In language which any normal human being can understand, we will describe all
that is known about the principle through which FAITH may be developed, where
it does not already exist
...

Before we begin, you should be reminded again that: FAITH is the “eternal elixir”
which gives life, power, and action to the impulse of thought!
The foregoing sentence is worth reading a second time, and a third, and a fourth
...

FAITH is the element which transforms the ordinary vibration of thought, created by the finite mind of man, into the spiritual equivalent
...

EVERY ONE OF THE FOREGOING STATEMENTS IS CAPABLE OF
PROOF!
The proof is simple and easily demonstrated
...
Let us center our attention, therefore, upon the subject of selfsuggestion, and find out what it is, and what it is capable of achieving
...
If a man repeats a lie over and over,

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

he will eventually accept the lie as truth
...
Every man is what he is, because of the DOMINATING THOUGHTS which
he permits to occupy his mind
...

A thought thus “magnetized” with emotion may be compared to a seed which,
when planted in fertile soil, germinates, grows, and multiplies itself over and over
again, until that which was originally one small seed, becomes countless millions
of seeds of the SAME BRAND!
The ether is a great cosmic mass of eternal forces of vibration
...
It carries, at all times,
vibrations of fear, poverty, disease, failure, misery; and vibrations of prosperity,
health, success, and happiness, just as surely as it carries the sound of hundreds
of orchestrations of music, and hundreds of human voices, all of which maintain
their own individuality, and means of identification, through the medium of radio
...
Any
thought, idea, plan, or purpose which one holds in one’s mind attracts, from the
vibrations of the ether, a host of its relatives, adds these “relatives” to its own
force, and grows until it becomes the dominating, MOTIVATING MASTER of the
individual in whose mind it has been housed
...
The information is easily conveyed: any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind
through repetition of thought
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

We are what we are, because of the vibrations of thought which we pick up and
register, through the stimuli of our daily environment
...
Taking inventory of mental assets and liabilities, you
will discover that your greatest weakness is lack of self-confidence
...
The application of this principle may be made
through a simple arrangement of positive thought impulses stated in writing,
memorized, and repeated, until they become a part of the working equipment of
the subconscious faculty of your mind
...
I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my Definite Purpose
in life, therefore, I DEMAND of myself persistent, continuous action toward its
attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action
...
I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce
themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into
physical reality, therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily,
upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my
mind a clear mental picture of that person
...
I know through the principle of auto-suggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical
means of attaining the object back of it, therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily
to demanding of myself the development of SELF-CONFIDENCE
...
I have clearly written down a description of my DEFINITE CHIEF AIM
in life, and I will never stop trying, until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment
...
I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon
truth and justice, therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit
all whom it affects
...
I will induce others to serve me, because of
my willingness to serve others
...
I will cause others to believe
in me, because I will believe in them, and in myself
...

Back of this formula is a law of Nature which no man has yet been able to explain
...
The psychologists have named this law
“auto-suggestion,” and let it go at that
...
The important fact
about it is-it WORKS for the glory and success of mankind, IF it is used constructively
...
In
this statement may be found a very significant truth, namely; that those who go
down in defeat, and end their lives in poverty, misery, and distress, do so because
of negative application of the principle of auto-suggestion
...

The subconscious mind, (the chemical laboratory in which all thought impulses
are combined, and made ready for translation into physical reality), makes no
distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses
...
The subconscious mind
will translate into reality a thought driven by FEAR just as readily as it will translate into reality a thought driven by COURAGE, or FAITH
...
” A man may commit suicide through negative suggestion, just as effectively
as by any other means
...
He lost the money through gambling
...
Grant left the bank, took a room
in a local hotel, and when they found him, three days later, he was lying in bed,
wailing and moaning, repeating over and over these words, “My God, this will kill
me! I cannot stand the disgrace
...
The doctors pronounced the case one of “mental suicide
...
or down into the valley of misery, failure, and death, according to your degree of understanding and application of it
...

THIS STATEMENT IS AS TRUE AS THE STATEMENT THAT TWO
AND TWO ARE FOUR!
Like the wind which carries one ship East, and another West, the law of auto-suggestion will lift you up or pull you down, according to the way you set your sails
of THOUGHT
...

“If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s willIt’s all in the state of mind
...

“Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”
Observe the words which have been emphasized, and you will catch the deep
meaning which the poet had in mind
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

Just as a master musician may cause the most beautiful strains of music to pour
forth from the strings of a violin, so may you arouse the genius which lies asleep
in your brain, and cause it to drive you upward to whatever goal you may wish to
achieve
...
He was a Mr
...
That “experience” was mixed with the emotions
of sorrow and LOVE
...

It is a known fact that the emotion of LOVE is closely akin to the state of mind
known as FAITH, and this for the reason that Love comes very near to translating one’s thought impulses into their spiritual equivalent
...
The emotion
of love, in the human heart and brain, creates a favorable field of magnetic attraction, which causes an influx of the higher and finer vibrations which are afloat in
the ether
...
At the head of the list comes the Nazarene
...
The basis of
Christianity is FAITH, no matter how many people may have perverted, or misinterpreted the meaning of this great force, and no matter how many dogmas and
creeds have been created in its name, which do not reflect its tenets
...

If there are any such phenomena as “miracles” they are produced only through
the state of mind known as FAITH! Some teachers of religion, and many who call
themselves Christians, neither understand nor practice FAITH
...
In this man
the world has one of the most astounding examples known to civilization, of the
possibilities of FAITH
...
Gandhi

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

has no money, he has no home, he does not own a suit of clothes, but HE DOES
HAVE POWER
...

Gandhi has accomplished, through the influence of FAITH, that which the strongest military power on earth could not, and never will accomplish through soldiers
and military equipment
...

What other force on earth, except FAITH could do as much? There will come a
day when employees as well as employers will discover the possibilities of FAITH
...
The whole world has had ample opportunity, during the
recent business depression, to witness what the LACK OF FAITH will do to business
...
During this depression, the world had evidence in abundance that widespread FEAR
will paralyze the wheels of industry and business
...
These
leaders will come from the rank and file of the unknown men, who now labor in
the steel plants, the coal mines, the automobile factories, and in the small towns
and cities of America
...
Men who labor will receive more
than daily wages; they will receive dividends from the business, the same as those
who supply the capital for business; but, first they must GIVE MORE TO THEIR
EMPLOYERS, and stop this bickering and bargaining by force, at the expense of
the public
...
Only in this way may leaders get from their
followers the spirit of FULL cooperation which constitutes power in its highest
and most enduring form
...
Its leaders have driven men as though they
were pieces of cold machinery; they were forced to do so by the employees who
have bargained, at the expense of all concerned, to get and not to give
...

Because of the need for faith and cooperation in operating business and industry,
it will be both interesting and profitable to analyze an event which provides an
excellent understanding of the method by which industrialists and business men
accumulate great fortunes, by giving before they try to get
...
As you read the story, keep in mind these
fundamental facts and you will understand how IDEAS have been converted into
huge fortunes
...
Schwab, in the form of an IDEA he created through his IMAGINATION!
Second, he mixed FAITH with his IDEA
...

Fourth, he put his plan into action with his famous speech at the University
Club
...

Sixth, he prepared the way for success by a BURNING DESIRE for success
...
If you have any doubt that men can THINK AND GROW RICH,
this story should dispel that doubt, because you can plainly see in the story of the

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

United States Steel, the application of a major portion of the thirteen principles
described in this book
...


A PRETTY AFTER-DINNER SPEECH FOR A BILLION DOLLARS
“When, on the evening of December 12, 1900, some eighty of the nation’s financial nobility gathered in the banquet hail of the University Club on Fifth Avenue
to do honor to a young man from out of the West, not half a dozen of the guests
realized they were to witness the most significant episode in American industrial
history
...
Edward Simmons and Charles Stewart Smith, their hearts full of gratitude for
the lavish hospitality bestowed on them by Charles M
...
But they didn’t expect him to stampede the
convention
...

“Even John Pierpont Morgan, sitting on the right hand of Schwab as became his
imperial dignity, intended to grace the banquet table with his presence only briefly
...

“So the two hosts and their distinguished guests ate their way through the usual
seven or eight courses
...
Few of the bankers and brokers had met Schwab, whose career had
flowered along the banks of the Monongahela, and none knew him well
...

“It is perhaps unfortunate, for the sake of history, that no record of Charlie
Schwab’s speech at the dinner ever was made
...
And still later, when the
Government brought suit to dissolve the Steel Trust, he gave his own version,

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NAPOLEON HILL

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from the witness stand, of the remarks that stimulated Morgan into a frenzy of
financial activity
...
But aside from that it had a galvanic force and effect upon the five
billions of estimated capital that was represented by the diners
...

“The magic of the Schwab personality had been turned on, full force, but what
was more important and lasting was the full-fledged, clear-cut program he laid
down for the aggrandizement of Steel
...
John W
...
The Moore boys, Bill and
Jim, Chicago stock jobbers who had glued together a match trust and a cracker
corporation, had urged it and failed
...
Gary, the sanctimonious country lawyer, wanted to foster it, but he wasn’t big enough to be impressive
...
P
...

“The financial magnetism that began, a generation ago, to attract thousands of
small and sometimes inefficiently managed companies into large and competition-crushing combinations, had become operative in the steel world through the
devices of that jovial business pirate, John W
...
Gates already had formed
the American Steel and Wire Company out of a chain of small concerns, and together with Morgan had created the Federal Steel Company
...

“But by the side of Andrew Carnegie’s gigantic vertical trust, a trust owned and
operated by fifty-three partners, those other combinations were picayune
...


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“The eccentric old Scot knew it, too
...
When the attempts became
too bold, Carnegie’s temper was translated into anger and retaliation
...
Hitherto, he hadn’t been interested in
wire, pipe, hoops, or sheet
...
Now, with Schwab as
his chief and able lieutenant, he planned to drive his enemies to the wall
...
Schwab, Morgan saw the answer to his
problem of combination
...

“Schwab’s speech on the night of December 12, 1900, undoubtedly carried the inference, though not the pledge, that the vast Carnegie enterprise could be brought
under the Morgan tent
...

“More than that, he told the buccaneers among them wherein lay the errors of
their customary piracy
...
Schwab condemned the system in his heartiest manner
...
By cheapening the cost of steel, he argued, an
ever-expanding market would be created; more uses for steel would be devised,
and a goodly portion of the world trade could be captured
...

“So the dinner at the University Club came to an end
...
Schwab went back to Pittsburgh to run
the steel business for `Wee Andra Carnegie,’ while Gary and the rest went back to
their stock tickers, to fiddle around in anticipation of the next move
...
It took Morgan about one week to digest the feast of reason Schwab had placed before him
...
Mr
...

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Then it was suggested by John W
...
P
...
When Schwab arrived, however, Morgan was inconveniently ill
at his New York home, and so, on the elder man’s pressing invitation, Schwab
went to New York and presented himself at the door of the financier’s library
...
The truth is exactly
the opposite
...
But Schwab did take into the conference with him, in his own handwriting, six sheets of copper-plate figures, representing to his mind the physical worth and the potential earning capacity of every
steel company he regarded as an essential star in the new metal firmament
...
The chief, of course, was Morgan, steadfast in his belief in the Divine Right of Money
...
The third was John
W
...
The fourth was
Schwab, who knew more about the processes of making and selling steel than any
whole group of men then living
...
If he said a company was worth so much, then it
was worth that much and no more
...
He had conceived a corporation
in which there would be no duplication, not even to satisfy the greed of friends
who wanted to unload their companies upon the broad Morgan shoulders
...

“When dawn came, Morgan rose and straightened his back
...
“`Do you think you can persuade Andrew Carnegie to sell?’ he asked
...

“`If you can get him to sell, I will undertake the matter,’ said Morgan
...
But would Carnegie sell? How much would he demand? (Schwab
thought about $320,000,000)
...

“There was a golf game in January on the frost-cracking heath of the St
...
But no word of business
was mentioned until the pair sat down in the cozy warmth of the Carnegie cottage hard by
...

Carnegie capitulated, wrote a figure on a slip of paper, handed it to Schwab and
said, `all right, that’s what we’ll sell for
...

“Later, on the deck of a trans-Atlantic liner, the Scotsman said ruefully to Morgan, `I wish I had asked you for $100,000,000 more
...

*******
“There was an uproar, of course
...
President Hadley, of Yale,
declared that unless trusts were regulated the country might expect `an emperor
in Washington within the next twenty-five years
...
So Carnegie had his millions, and the Morgan syndicate
had $62,000,000 for all its `trouble,’ and all the `boys,’ from Gates to Gary, had
their millions
...
He was made president of the
new corporation and remained in control until 1930
...
Doubtless some will say, “You
cannot convert NOTHING into SOMETHING!” The answer is in the story of
United States
Steel
...
The plan by
which the organization was provided with the steel mills that gave it financial
stability was created in the mind of the same man
...
The steel mills and mechanical equipment acquired by the
corporation, AFTER IT HAD BEEN BROUGHT INTO LEGAL EXISTENCE, were
incidental, but careful analysis will disclose the fact that the appraised value of
the properties acquired by the corporation increased in value by an estimated SIX
HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS, by the mere transaction which consolidated
them under one management
...
Schwab’s IDEA, plus the FAITH with which he conveyed it to the minds of J
...
Morgan and the others, was marketed for a profit of
approximately $600,000,000
...
The important feature of the astounding achievement is that it serves
as unquestionable evidence of the soundness of the philosophy described in this
book, because this philosophy was the warp and the woof of the entire transaction
...

RICHES begin in the form of THOUGHT! The amount is limited only by the person in whose mind the THOUGHT is put into motion
...
Remember, also, that the man who
created the United States Steel Corporation was practically unknown at the time
...
After that he quickly rose to a position of power, fame, and riches
...
Stated in
another way, auto-suggestion is self-suggestion
...
Through the dominating thoughts which one permits to remain in the conscious mind, (whether
these thoughts be negative or positive, is immaterial), the principle of auto-suggestion voluntarily reaches the subconscious mind and influences it with these
thoughts
...
Stated differently,
all sense impressions which are perceived through the five senses, are stopped by
the CONSCIOUS thinking mind, and may be either passed on to the subconscious
mind, or rejected, at will
...

Nature has so built man that he has ABSOLUTE CONTROL over the material
which reaches his subconscious mind, through his five senses, although this is not
meant to be construed as a statement that man always EXERCISES this control
...

Recall what has been said about the subconscious mind resembling a fertile garden spot, in which weeds will grow in abundance, if the seeds of more desirable
crops are not sown therein
...
You were instructed, in the last
of the six steps described in the chapter on Desire, to read ALOUD twice daily
the WRITTEN statement of your DESIRE FOR MONEY, and to SEE AND FEEL

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yourself ALREADY in possession of the money! By following these instructions,
you communicate the object of your DESIRE directly to your SUBCONSCIOUS
mind in a spirit of absolute FAITH
...

Go back to these six steps described in chapter two, and read them again, very
carefully, before you proceed further
...
By comparing these two sets of
instructions with that which has been stated on auto-suggestion, you, of course,
will see that the instructions involve the application of the principle of auto-suggestion
...
If you repeat a million times the famous Emil Coué formula, “Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better,” without mixing
emotion and FAITH with your words, you will experience no desirable results
...

This is a fact of such importance as to warrant repetition in practically every chapter, because the lack of understanding of this is the main reason the majority of
people who try to apply the principle of auto-suggestion get no desirable results
...
You will get
no appreciable results until you learn to reach your subconscious mind with
thoughts, or spoken words which have been well emotionalized with BELIEF
...
Remember, there is no such possibility as SOMETHING
FOR NOTHING
...
You cannot cheat, even if you desire
to do so
...
You cannot develop the
desired ability for a lower price
...


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Wisdom and “cleverness” alone, will not attract and retain money except in a
few very rare instances, where the law of averages favors the attraction of money
through these sources
...
Moreover, the method plays no favorites
...
Where failure is experienced, it is the individual, not the method, which has failed
...

Your ability to use the principle of auto-suggestion will depend, very largely, upon
your capacity to CONCENTRATE upon a given DESIRE until that desire becomes
a BURNING OBSESSION
...

Let us here offer suggestions for the effective use of concentration
...
Do
this at least once each day
...
Following the preceding statement, consider
the possibility of playing a perfectly legitimate “trick” on your subconscious mind,
by making it believe, because you believe it, that you must have the amount of
money you are visualizing, that this money is already awaiting your claim, that
the subconscious mind MUST hand over to you practical plans for acquiring the
money which is yours
...

DO NOT WAIT for a definite plan, through which you intend to exchange services
or merchandise in return for the money you are visualizing, but begin at once to
see yourself in possession of the money, DEMANDING and EXPECTING mean-

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while, that your subconscious mind will hand over the plan, or plans you need
...
When the plans appear, they will probably “flash” into your mind
through the sixth sense, in the form of an “inspiration
...
Treat it
with respect, and act upon it as soon as you receive it
...

In the fourth of the six steps, you were instructed to “Create a definite plan for
carrying out your desire, and begin at once to put this plan into action
...
Do not trust to your “reason when creating your plan for accumulating
money through the transmutation of desire
...
Moreover, your
reasoning faculty may be lazy, and, if you depend entirely upon it to serve you, it
may disappoint you
...
This is important!

SUMMARY OF INSTRUCTIONS
The fact that you are reading this book is an indication that you earnestly seek
knowledge
...
If you are
only a student, there is a chance that you may learn much that you did not know,
but you will learn only by assuming an attitude of humility
...

The instructions given in connection with the six steps in the second chapter will
now be summarized, and blended with the principles covered by this chapter, as
follows:
First
...
As you carry out these
instructions, SEE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY
...
Your written statement of your purpose
should be similar to the following:
“By the first day of January, 19
...

“In return for this money I will give the most efficient service of which I am
capable, rendering the fullest possible quantity, and the best possible quality of
service in the capacity of salesman of (describe the service or merchandise you
intend to sell)
...
My faith is so strong
that I can now see this money before my eyes
...
It
is now awaiting transfer to me at the time, and in the proportion that I deliver
the service I intend to render in return for it
...
”
Second
...

Third
...

Remember, as you carry out these instructions, that you are applying the principle of auto-suggestion, for the purpose of giving orders to your subconscious
mind
...
” FAITH is the
strongest, and most productive of the emotions
...

These instructions may, at first, seem abstract
...
Follow
the instructions, no matter how abstract or impractical they may, at first, appear
to be
...

Scepticism, in connection with ALL new ideas, is characteristic of all human beings
...
Then you will have arrived at the point where you may truly say, “I am the
master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!”
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Many philosophers have made the statement, that man is the master of his own
earthly destiny, but most of them have failed to say why he is the master
...
Man may become the
master of himself, and of his environment, because he has the POWER TO INFLUENCE HIS OWN SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, and through it, gain the cooperation of Infinite Intelligence
...
The instructions contained in this chapter must be understood
and APPLIED WITH PERSISTENCE, if you succeed in transmuting desire into
money
...
The other principles are simply tools with which to apply autosuggestion
...
Carry out these
instructions as though you were a small child
...
The author has been
most careful, to see that no impractical instructions were included, because of his
sincere desire to be helpful
...

AS YOU READ, UNDERSCORE WITH A PENCIL EVERY SENTENCE WHICH
IMPRESSES YOU FAVORABLY
...


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Chapter 5
SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE, PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OR
OBSERVATIONS
—
The Fourth Step toward Riches
THERE are two kinds of knowledge
...
General knowledge, no matter how great in quantity or variety it may be, is of but
little use in the accumulation of money
...
Most of the professors have but little or no money
...

KNOWLEDGE will not attract money, unless it is organized, and intelligently
directed, through practical PLANS OF ACTION, to the DEFINITE END of accumulation of money
...
” It
is nothing of the sort! Knowledge is only potential power
...

This “missing link” in all systems of education known to civilization today, may be
found in the failure of educational institutions to teach their students HOW TO
ORGANIZE AND USE KNOWLEDGE AFTER THEY ACQUIRE IT
...
” Those who make this mistake
do not know Henry Ford, nor do they understand the real meaning of the word
“educate
...
An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has
an abundance of general or specialized knowledge
...
Henry Ford comes well
within the meaning of this definition
...
” Mr
...

When the suit was tried in the Courts, the attorneys for the paper pleaded justification, and placed Mr
...
The attorneys asked Mr
...

Mr
...

Ford replied, “I do not know the exact number of soldiers the British sent over,
but I have heard that it was a considerably larger number than ever went back
...
Ford became tired of this line of questioning, and in reply to a particularly offensive question, he leaned over, pointed his finger at the lawyer who
had asked the question, and said, “If I should really WANT to answer the foolish
question you have just asked, or any of the other questions you have been asking
me, let me remind you that I have a row of electric push-buttons on my desk, and
by pushing the right button, I can summon to my aid men who can answer ANY
question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of
my efforts
...
That answer floored the lawyer
...
Any man is educated who knows where to get knowledge
when he needs it, and how to organize that knowledge into definite plans of action
...
It was not essential that he have this knowledge
in his own mind
...

Before you can be sure of your ability to transmute DESIRE into its monetary
equivalent, you will require SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE of the service, merchandise, or profession which you intend to offer in return for fortune
...

Andrew Carnegie stated that he, personally, knew nothing about the technical
end of the steel business; moreover, he did not particularly care to know anything
about it
...

The accumulation of great fortunes calls for POWER, and power is acquired
through highly organized and intelligently directed specialized knowledge, but
that knowledge does not, necessarily, have to be in the possession of the man who
accumulates the fortune
...
Men sometimes go through life suffering from “inferiority complexes,” because they are not
men of “education
...
REMEMBER THIS, if you suffer from a feeling of inferiority, because your schooling has been limited
...
Edison had only three months of “schooling” during his entire life
...
Henry Ford had less than a sixth
grade “schooling” but he has managed to do pretty well by himself, financially
...

IT PAYS TO KNOW HOW TO PURCHASE KNOWLEDGE
First of all, decide the sort of specialized knowledge you require, and the purpose
for which it is needed
...

With this question settled, your next move requires that you have accurate information concerning dependable sources of knowledge
...
)
As knowledge is acquired it must be organized and put into use, for a definite
purpose, through practical plans
...
This is one reason why
college degrees are not valued more highly
...

If you contemplate taking additional schooling, first determine the purpose for
which you want the knowledge you are seeking, then learn where this particular
sort of knowledge can be obtained, from reliable sources
...
Those who are not successful
usually make the mistake of believing that the knowledge acquiring period ends
when one finishes school
...

With this Changed World which began at the end of the economic collapse, came
also astounding changes in educational requirements
...
Moore, secretary of
appointments of Columbia University
...

“The man who has been active on the campus, whose personality is such that
he gets along with all kinds of people and who has done an adequate job with
his studies has a most decided edge over the strictly academic student
...


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“In departing from the conception that the `straight A’ student was invariably
the one to get the choice of the better jobs, Mr
...

“One of the largest industrial companies, the leader in its field, in writing to Mr
...
For this reason we emphasize qualities of character, intelligence and personality far more than specific educational background
...
Moore asserts that after the first
two or three years of college, every student should be asked `to choose a definite
future course and to call a halt if he has been merely pleasantly drifting without
purpose through an unspecialized academic curriculum
...
One of
the most reliable and practical sources of knowledge available to those who need
specialized schooling, is the night schools operated in most large cities
...
S
...
One advantage of home
study training is the flexibility of the study programme which permits one to
study during spare time
...
No matter where you live,
you can share the benefits
...
The SELF-DISCIPLINE one receives from a definite programme of specialized study makes up to some extent, for the wasted opportunity
when knowledge was available without cost
...
Their tuition fees are so low that they are forced

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to insist upon prompt payments
...
The correspondence schools have not
stressed this point sufficiently, for the truth is that their collection departments
constitute the very finest sort of training on DECISION, PROMPTNESS, ACTION
and THE HABIT OF FINISHING THAT WHICH ONE BEGINS
...
I enrolled for a
home study course in Advertising
...
Moreover, it insisted upon
payment, whether I kept up my studies or not
...
I felt, at the time, that the collection system of
the school was somewhat too well organized, but I learned later in life that it was
a valuable part of my training for which no charge had been made
...
Later in life I discovered that the
efficient collection system of that school had been worth much in the form of
money earned, because of the training in advertising I had so reluctantly taken
...
We have invested fabulous sums for fine buildings, we have provided
convenient transportation for children living in the rural districts, so they may
attend the best schools, but there is one astounding weakness to this marvelous
system-IT IS FREE! One of the strange things about human beings is that they
value only that which has a price
...
This is the major reason
why so many people find it necessary to acquire additional training after they
quit school and go lo work
...
They have learned, from experience, that any person who has
the ambition to give up a part of his spare time to studying at home has in him
those qualities which make for leadership
...

There is one weakness in people for which there is no remedy
...
Their action opens the way for the upward climb, removes many
obstacles from their path, and gains the friendly interest of those who have the
power to put them in the way of OPPORTUNITY
...

The changed economic conditions prevailing since the depression have made it
necessary for thousands of people to find additional, or new sources of income
...
Many will be forced to change their occupations
entirely
...
The person whose business is that of
marketing personal services must also be an efficient merchant
...

Stuart Austin Wier prepared himself as a Construction Engineer and followed
this line of work until the depression limited his market to where it did not give
him the income he required
...
Despite the fact the depression had not
ended, he completed his training, passed the Bar Examination, and quickly built
a lucrative law practice, in Dallas, Texas; in fact he is turning away clients
...
Wier was past forty, and married when he went
back to school
...
Wier completed in two years
the work for which the majority of law students require four years
...
The way of
success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge
...
During the depression a salesman in a grocery
store found himself without a position
...
Starting with the grocer for whom he had formerly worked, he made contracts with
more than 100 small merchants to keep their books, at a very nominal monthly

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fee
...
He now has a fleet of these bookkeeping offices “on wheels” and employs
a large staff of assistants, thus providing small merchants with accounting service
equal to the best that money can buy, at very nominal cost
...
Last year the owner of that business paid an income tax of almost ten times as much as was paid by the merchant for whom
he worked when the depression forced upon him a temporary adversity which
proved to be a blessing in disguise
...
Also the possibility of rendering useful service to thousands
of people who badly need that service
...
When the plan was suggested as
a solution of his unemployment problem, he quickly exclaimed, “I like the idea,
but I would not know how to turn it into cash
...

So, that brought up another problem which had to be solved
...

The pages were neatly typed and pasted in an ordinary scrapbook, which was
used as a silent salesman with which the story of this new business was so effectively told that its owner soon had more accounts than he could handle
...
The aggregate annual income from such a service might
easily exceed that received by the largest employment agency, and the benefits of
the service might be made far greater to the purchaser than any to be obtained
from an employment agency
...
The wom-

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an who created the idea has a keen IMAGINATION
...

Spurred to action by the instantaneous success of her first “PREPARED PLAN TO
MARKET PERSONAL SERVICES,” this energetic woman turned next to the solution of a similar problem for her son who had just finished college, but had been
totally unable to find a market for his services
...

When the plan book had been completed, it contained nearly fifty pages of beautifully typed, properly organized information, telling the story of her son’s native
ability, schooling, personal experiences, and a great variety of other information
too extensive for description
...

The preparation of the plan book required several week’s labor, during which
time its creator sent her son to the public library almost daily, to procure data
needed in selling his services to best advantage
...
When the plan had
been finished, it contained more than half a dozen very fine suggestions for the
use and benefit of the prospective employer
...

One may be inclined to ask, “Why go to all this trouble to secure a job?” The
answer is straight to the point, also it is dramatic, because it deals with a subject which assumes the proportion of a tragedy with millions of men and women
whose sole source of income is personal services
...
”
Moreover-and this, too, is important-THE POSITION DID NOT REQUIRE THE
YOUNG MAN TO START AT THE BOTTOM
...


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“Why go to all this trouble?” do you ask?
Well, for one thing, the PLANNED PRESENTATION of this young man’s application for a position clipped off no less than ten years of time he would have
required to get to where he began, had he “started at the bottom and worked his
way up
...
It should be remembered, also, that the outlook from the bottom is not so very bright or encouraging
...
We call it “getting into a rut,” which means that we accept our
fate because we form the HABIT of daily routine, a habit that finally becomes
so strong we cease to try to throw it off
...
By so doing one forms the HABIT of
looking around, of observing how others get ahead, of seeing OPPORTUNITY,
and of embracing it without hesitation
...
During his college days, he was
manager of the famous 1930 National Championship Notre Dame football team,
when it was under the direction of the late Knute Rockne
...
At any rate, young Halpin finished college at a mighty unfavorable
time, when the depression had made jobs scarce, so, after a fling at investment
banking and motion pictures, he took the first opening with a potential future he
could find-selling electrical hearing aids on a commission basis
...

For almost two years, he continued in a job not to his liking, and he would never
have risen above that job if he had not done something about his dissatisfaction
...
That one step upward placed him high enough above the crowd to enable him
to see still greater opportunity, also, it placed him where OPPORTUNITY COULD
SEE HIM
...
M
...
He sent for Hal-pin
...

Then, to test young Halpin’s metal, Mr
...
He did not sink! Knute
Rockne’s spirit of “All the world loves a winner, and has no time for a loser inspired him to put so much into his job that he was recently elected Vice-President
of the company, and General Manager of the Acousticon and Silent Radio Division, a job which most men would be proud to earn through ten years of loyal
effort
...

It is difficult to say whether Mr
...
Halpin is more deserving of eulogy, for the reason that both showed evidence of having an abundance of that
very rare quality known as IMAGINATION
...
Andrews deserves credit for seeing, in young Halpin, a “go-getter” of the highest order
...

I am also trying to emphasize another point, namely, that both success and failure
are largely the results of HABIT! I have not the slightest doubt that Dan Halpin’s
close association with the greatest football coach America ever knew, planted in
his mind the same brand of DESIRE to excel which made the Notre Dame football
team world famous
...
Halpin tells me that Rockne was one
of the world’s greatest leaders of men in all history
...

Mr
...
I brought parental pressure to bear, and induced
him to accept the place with Mr
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

The bottom is a monotonous, dreary, unprofitable place for any person
...
Also, that is why so much space has been devoted to a description of this new profession, created by a woman who was inspired to do a
fine job of PLANNING because she wanted her son to have a favorable “break
...
It
is hard to determine why someone had not previously discovered this stupendous
need, in view of the fact that more money changes hands in return for personal
services than for any other purpose
...

Perhaps some will find, in the IDEA here briefly described, the nucleus of the
riches they DESIRE! Ideas with much less merit have been the seedlings from
which great fortunes have grown
...
Those seeing OPPORTUNITY lurking in this
suggestion will find valuable aid in the chapter on Organized Planning
...
By applying the Master Mind principle, a few people with
suitable talent, could form an alliance, and have a paying business very quickly
...
If one person possessed all these
abilities, he might carry on the business alone, until it outgrew him
...
She has a staff of expert typists, artists, and writers who have the ability
to dramatize the case history so effectively that one’s personal services can be
marketed for much more money than the prevailing wages for similar services
...

It must not be supposed that her plan merely consists of clever salesmanship
by which she helps men and women to demand and receive more money for he

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same services they formerly sold for less pay
...
The method by
which she accomplishes this astonishing result is a professional secret which she
discloses to no one excepting her own clients
...
The IDEA is capable of yielding an income far greater than that of the
“average” doctor, lawyer, or engineer whose education required several years in
college
...

There is no fixed price for sound IDEAS! Back of all IDEAS is specialized knowledge
...
Because of
this very truth, there is a universal demand and an ever-increasing opportunity
for the person capable of helping men and women to sell their personal services
advantageously
...

If you have IMAGINATION this chapter may present you with an idea sufficient
to serve as the beginning of the riches you desire
...
Specialized knowledge may be found just around the corner-any corner!

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Chapter 6
IMAGINATION: THE WORKSHOP OF THE MIND
—
The Fifth Step toward Riches
The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created
by man
...

It has been said that man can create anything which he can imagine
...
On every hand one may contact
stimuli which develop the imagination
...
He has conquered the air so completely,
that the birds are a poor match for him in flying
...
He has analyzed, and weighed the sun at a distance of millions of miles,
and has determined, through the aid of IMAGINATION, the elements of which it
consists
...
He has increased the speed of locomotion,
until he may now travel at a speed of more than three hundred miles an hour
...

MAN’S ONLY LIMITATION, within reason, LIES IN HIS DEVELOPMENT AND
USE OF HIS IMAGINATION
...
He has merely discovered that he has an imagination, and has commenced to use it in a very elementary way
...
One is known as “synthetic imagination,” and the other as “creative imagination
...
This faculty creates nothing
...
It is the faculty
used most by the inventor, with the exception of the who draws upon the creative imagination, when he cannot solve his problem through synthetic imagination
...
It is
the faculty through which “hunches” and “inspirations” are received
...

It is through this faculty that thought vibrations from the minds of others are
received
...

The creative imagination works automatically, in the manner described in subsequent pages
...

The creative faculty becomes more alert, more receptive to vibrations from the
sources mentioned, in proportion to its development through USE
...

Keep in mind as you follow these principles, that the entire story of how one
may convert DESIRE into money cannot be told in one statement
...

The great leaders of business, industry, finance, and the great artists, musicians,
poets, and writers became great, because they developed the faculty of creative
imagination
...

Desire is only a thought, an impulse
...
It is abstract,
and of no value, until it has been transformed into its physical counterpart
...


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Your imaginative faculty may have become weak through inaction
...
This faculty does not die, though it may become quiescent through lack of use
...

Transformation of the intangible impulse, of DESIRE, into the tangible reality, of
MONEY, calls for the use of a plan, or plans
...

Read the entire book through, then come back to this chapter, and begin at once
to put your imagination to work on the building of a plan, or plans, for the transformation of your DESIRE into money
...
Carry out the instructions best
suited to your needs, reduce your plan to writing, if you have not already done
so
...
Read the preceding sentence once more
...

The earth on which you live, you, yourself, and every other material thing are
the result of evolutionary change, through which microscopic bits of matter have
been organized and arranged in an orderly fashion
...
DESIRE is thought impulse! Thought impulses are
forms of energy
...

As far as science has been able to determine, the entire universe consists of but
two elements-matter and energy
...

You are now engaged in the task of trying to profit by Nature’s method
...
YOU

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CAN DO IT! IT HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE!
You can build a fortune through the aid of laws which are immutable
...
Through repetition, and by approaching the description of these principles from every conceivable angle, the author hopes to reveal to you the secret through which every
great fortune has been accumulated
...
Nature, herself, advertises it in the earth on which we
live, the stars, the planets suspended within our view, in the elements above and
around us, in every blade of grass, and every form of life within our vision
...
The conversion of desire into its physical equivalent is, certainly, no more miraculous!
Do not become discouraged if you do not fully comprehend all that has been stated
...

But you will, in time, make good progress
...
Assimilate that which you understand,
as you read this philosophy for the first time, then, when you reread and study
it, you will discover that something has happened to clarify it, and give you a
broader understanding of the whole
...


HOW TO MAKE PRACTICAL USE OF IMAGINATION
Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes
...
Let us examine a few well known ideas which have yielded huge fortunes,
with the hope that these illustrations will convey definite information concerning
the method by which imagination may be used in accumulating riches
...
His mission was destined to yield great wealth to many people
...

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For more than an hour, behind the prescription counter, the old doctor and the
clerk talked in low tones
...
He went out to the buggy and
brought back a large, old fashioned kettle, a big wooden paddle (used for stirring
the contents of the kettle), and deposited them in the back of the store
...
The roll contained exactly $500
...
The words on that small slip of paper were worth a
King’s ransom! But not to the doctor! Those magic words were needed to start the
kettle to boiling, but neither the doctor nor the young clerk knew what fabulous
fortunes were destined to flow from that kettle
...
The money
would pay off his debts, and give him freedom of mind
...
What the
clerk really purchased was an IDEA! The old kettle and the wooden paddle, and
the secret message on a slip of paper were incidental
...

Read this story carefully, give your imagination a test! See if you can discover
what it was that the young man added to the secret message, which caused the
kettle to overflow with gold
...
Here you have a story of facts, stranger than fiction, facts which
began in the form of an IDEA
...
It has paid,
and still pays huge fortunes to men and women all over the world, who distribute
the contents of the kettle to millions of people
...

The Old Kettle consumes, annually, millions of glass bottles, providing jobs to
huge numbers of glass workers
...
It has brought fame and fortune to scores of artists who have created magnificent pictures describing the product
...

The influence of this idea now benefits every civilized country in the world, pouring out a continuous stream of gold to all who touch it
...

The Old Kettle has done other marvelous things
...
If the
product of that old brass kettle could talk, it would tell thrilling tales of romance
in every language
...

The author is sure of at least one such romance, for he was a part of it, and it all
began not far from the very spot on which the drug clerk purchased the old kettle
...

It was the product of that Kettle they were drinking when he asked her to accept
him “for better or worse
...

Whoever you are, wherever you may live, whatever occupation you may be engaged in, just remember in the future, every time you see the words “Coca-Cola,”
that its vast empire of wealth and influence grew out of a single IDEA, and that
the mysterious ingredient the drug clerk-Asa Candler-mixed with the secret formula was
...
Remember, also, that the thirteen steps
to riches, described in this book, were the media through which the influence of
Coca-Cola has been extended to every city, town, village, and cross-roads of the

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world, and that ANY IDEA you may create, as 8OUfld and meritorious as CocaCola, has the possibility of duplicating the stupendous record of this world-wide
thirst-killer
...


WHAT I WOULD DO IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS
This story proves the truth of that old saying, “where there’s a will, there’s a
way
...
Gunsaulus, who began his preaching career in the stockyards region of South
Chicago
...
Gunsaulus was going through college, he observed many defects in
our educational system, defects which he believed he could correct, if he were
the head of a college
...
”
He made up his mind to organize a new college in which he could carry out his
ideas, without being handicapped by orthodox methods of education
...

But he couldn’t seem to make any progress
...
He got up with it in the morning
...
He turned it over and over in his mind until it became a consuming obsession with him
...
He recognized that fact, but
he also recognized the truth that the only limitation is that which one sets up in
one’s own mind
...
Gunsaulus recognized, as do all
who succeed in life, that DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE is the starting point from
which one must begin
...

He knew all these great truths, yet he did not know where, or how to lay his hands
on a million dollars
...
” That is exactly what the
majority of people would have said, but it is not what Dr
...
What
he said, and what he did are so important that I now introduce him, and let him
speak for himself
...
For nearly two years, I had been thinking, but I
had done nothing but think!
“The time had come for ACTION!”
“I made up my mind, then and there, that I would get the necessary million dollars within a week
...
The main thing of importance was the decision to get the money within a specified time, and I want to
tell you that the moment I reached a definite decision to get the money within a
specified time, a strange feeling of assurance came over me, such as I had never
before experienced
...
I called the newspapers and announced I
would preach a sermon the following morning, entitled, `What I would do if I had
a Million Dollars
...

The spirit back of it was a part of me!
“Long before midnight I had finished writing the sermon
...
possession of the
million dollars
...

“While I was praying I again had that feeling of assurance that the money would
be forthcoming
...


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“It was too late to go back for my notes, and what a blessing that I couldn’t go
back! Instead, my own subconscious mind yielded the material I needed
...
I not only talked to my audience, but I fancy I talked also to God
...
I described the plan I had in mind for organizing a great educational institution, where young people would learn to do practical things, and at the same
time develop their minds
...
I wondered what he was
going to do
...
I believe you can do everything you said you would, if you had
a million dollars
...
My name is
Phillip D
...
”’
Young Gunsaulus went to Mr
...
With the money, he founded the Armour Institute of Technology
...
The necessary million dollars came as a result of
an idea
...

Observe this important fact
...
Others before him, and many since
his time, have had similar thoughts
...
Gunsaulus got his million dollars is still alive! It is available to you!
This universal law is as workable today as it was when the young preacher made
use of it so successfully
...
Observe that Asa Candler and Dr
...
Both knew the
astounding truth that IDEAS CAN BE TRANSMUTED INTO CASH THROUGH
THE POWER OF DEFINITE PURPOSE, PLUS DEFINITE PLANS
...
Generally speaking,
an idea is an impulse of thought that impels action, by an appeal to the imagination
...

Ordinary salesmen do not know this-that is why they are “ordinary”
...
He learned that many people buy titles, and
not contents of books
...
The
inside of the book was not changed in any way
...

That, as simple as it may seem, was an IDEA! It was IMAGINATION
...
The creator of ideas makes his own price,
and, if he is smart, gets it
...
Most of them were men who couldn’t create ideas-BUT-they had
the imagination to recognize ideas when they saw them
...
The money will be made by those who discover or
create new and more meritorious radio programmes and have the imagination to
recognize merit, and to give the radio listeners a chance to profit by it
...
The man who beats the sponsor to the draw, and supplies programmes
that render useful service, is the man who will become rich in this new industry
...

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Here is a wide open field of opportunity screaming its protest at the way it is being butchered, because of lack of imagination, and begging for rescue at any price
...

Stated more plainly, the builder of radio programmes who succeeds in the future,
must find practical ways to convert “listeners” into “buyers
...

Sponsors are becoming a bit weary of buying glib selling talks, based upon statements grabbed out of thin air
...
The old timers in the advertising game cannot read the modern radio scripts, because they have been schooled
to SEE ideas
...

Radio, right now, is about where the moving pictures were, when Mary Pickford
and her curls first appeared on the screen
...

If the foregoing comment on the opportunities of radio has not started your idea
factory to work, you had better forget it
...

If the comment intrigued you in the slightest degree, then go further into it, and
you may find the one IDEA you need to round out your career
...
Andrew Carnegie
knew very little about making steel-I have Carnegie’s own word for this-but he
made practical use of two of the principles described in this book, and made the
steel business yield him a fortune
...
Carnegie surrounded himself with men who could do all that he could not do
...

Millions of people go through life hoping for favorable “breaks
...
It was a favorable “break” that gave me the biggest opportunity of my lifebut-twenty-five years of determined effort had to be devoted to that opportunity
before it became an asset
...
On that occasion Carnegie planted in my mind the idea
of organizing the principles of achievement into a philosophy of success
...
The beginning was simple
...

The favorable break came through Carnegie, but what about the DETERMINATION, DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE, and the DESIRE TO ATTAIN THE GOAL,
and the PERSISTENT EFFORT OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS? It was no ordinary
DESIRE that survived disappointment, discouragement, temporary defeat, criticism, and the constant reminding of “waste of time
...
Carnegie, it was coaxed,
nursed, and enticed to remain alive
...
Ideas are like that
...

Ideas are intangible forces, but they have more power than the physical brains
that give birth to them
...
For example, take the power of Christianity
...
Its chief tenet was, “do unto
others as you would have others do unto you
...

Some day, it may grow up, and come into its own, then it will have fulfilled Christ’s
deepest DESIRE
...
Give
it time!
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THINK AND GROW RICH

SUCCESS REQUIRES NO EXPLANATIONS
FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS

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Chapter 7
ORGANIZED PLANNING: THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF DESIRE
INTO ACTION
—
The Sixth Step toward Riches
You have learned that everything man creates or acquires, begins in the form of
DESIRE, that desire is taken on the first lap of its journey, from the abstract to the
concrete, into the workshop of the IMAGINATION, where PLANS for its transition are created and organized
...
One
of these steps is the formation of a DEFINITE, practical plan, or plans, through
which this transformation may be made
...
(Compliance
with this instruction is absolutely essential
...
)
(b) Before forming your “Master Mind” alliance, decide what advantages, and
benefits, you may offer the individual embers of your group, in return for their
cooperation
...

No intelligent person will either request or expect another to work without adequate compensation, although this may not always be in the form of money
...

(d) Maintain PERFECT HARMONY between yourself and every member of
your “Master Mind” group
...
The “Master Mind” principle cannot obtain
where PERFECT HARMONY does not prevail
...
You are engaged in an undertaking of major importance to you
...

Second
...
This is in harmony with the methods followed
by every person who has accumulated a great fortune
...
Every plan you adopt, in your endeavor to accumulate wealth, should
be the joint creation of yourself and every other member of your “Master Mind”
group
...

If the first plan which you adopt does not work successfully, replace it with a new
plan, if this new plan fails to work, replace it, in turn with still another, and so on,
until you find a plan which DOES WORK
...

The most intelligent man living cannot succeed in accumulating money-nor in
any other undertaking-without plans which are practical and workable
...
It may only mean that your plans have not been sound
...
Start all over again
...
Edison “failed” ten thousand times before he perfected the incandescent electric light bulb
...

Temporary defeat should mean only one thing, the certain knowledge that there
is something wrong with your plan
...

Henry Ford accumulated a fortune, not because of his superior mind, but because
he adopted and followed a PLAN which proved to be sound
...


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Your achievement can be no greater than your PLANS are sound
...
Samuel Insull lost his fortune of over
one hundred million dollars
...
The business depression
forced Mr
...
Mr
...

No man is ever whipped, until he QUITS-in his own mind
...

James J
...

Henry Ford met with temporary defeat, not only at the beginning of his automobile career, but after he had gone far toward the top
...

We see men who have accumulated great fortunes, but we often recognize only
their triumph, overlooking the temporary defeats which they had to surmount
before “arriving”
...
” When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound,
rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal
...
”
A QUITTER NEVER WINS-AND-A WINNER NEVER QUITS
...

When you begin to select members for your “Master Mind” group, endeavor to
select those who do not take defeat seriously
...
This is not true! DESIRE, transmuted into its
monetary equivalent, through the principles laid down here, is the agency through
which money is “made
...
It cannot
move, think, or talk, but it can “hear” when a man who DESIRES it, calls it to
come!

PLANNING THE SALE OF SERVICES
The remainder of this chapter has been given over to a description of ways and
means of marketing personal services
...

Intelligent planning is essential for success in any undertaking designed to accumulate riches
...

It should be encouraging to know that practically all the great fortunes began in
the form of compensation for personal services, or from the sale of IDEAS
...
One type is known
as LEADERS, and the other as FOLLOWERS
...
The difference in compensation is vast
...

It is no disgrace to be a follower
...
Most great leaders began in the capacity of followers
...
With few exceptions,
the man who cannot follow a leader intelligently, cannot become an efficient
leader
...
An intelligent follower has many advantages, among them the OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE FROM HIS
LEADER
...
UNWAVERING COURAGE based upon knowledge of self, and of one’s occupation
...
No intelligent follower will be dominated by such a leader very long
...
SELF-CONTROL
...
Self-control sets a mighty example for one’s followers, which the more intelligent will emulate
...
A KEEN SENSE OF JUSTICE
...

4
...
The man who wavers in his decisions, shows
that he is not sure of himself
...

5
...
The successful leader must plan his work, and
work his plan
...
Sooner or later he will land on
the rocks
...
THE HABIT OF DOING MORE THAN PAID FOR
...

7
...
No slovenly, careless person can become a successful leader
...
Followers will not respect a leader
who does not grade high on all of the factors of a Pleasing Personality
...
SYMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING
...
Moreover, he must understand them and their problems
...
MASTERY OF DETAIL
...

10
...
The successful leader
must be willing to assume responsibility for the mistakes and the shortcomings
of his followers
...
If one of his followers makes a mistake, and shows himself incompetent, the
leader must consider that it is he who failed
...
COOPERATION
...

Leadership calls for POWER, and power calls for COOPERATION
...
The first, and by far the most effective, is LEADERSHIP BY
CONSENT of, and with the sympathy of the followers
...

History is filled with evidences that Leadership by Force cannot endure
...
It means that
people will not follow forced leadership indefinitely
...
Those who belong to the old school of leadership-by-force,
must acquire an understanding of the new brand of leadership (cooperation) or
be relegated to the rank and file of the followers
...

The relationship of employer and employee, or of leader and follower, in the future, will be one of mutual cooperation, based upon an equitable division of the
profits of business
...

Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, the Czar of Russia, and the King of Spain
were examples of leadership by force
...
Without much difficulty, one might point to the prototypes of these ex-leaders, among the business,
financial, and labor leaders of America who have been dethroned or slated to go
...

The new brand of LEADERSHIP will embrace the eleven factors of leadership,
described in this chapter, as well as some other factors
...
The depression was prolonged, largely, because the world lacked LEADERSHIP of the new brand
...
Some of the old type of leaders will reform and adapt themselves to the
new brand of leadership, but generally speaking, the world will have to look for
new timber for its leadership
...

1
...
Efficient leadership calls for ability to
organize and to master details
...
When a man, whether he
is a leader or follower, admits that he is “too busy” to change his plans, or to give
attention to any emergency, he admits his inefficiency
...
That means, of course,
that he must acquire the habit of relegating details to capable lieutenants
...
UNWILLINGNESS TO RENDER HUMBLE SERVICE
...
“The greatest among ye shall be the servant of all” is a
truth which all able leaders observe and respect
...
EXPECTATION OF PAY FOR WHAT THEY “KNOW” INSTEAD OF WHAT
THEY DO WITH THAT WHICH THEY KNOW
...
” It pays them for what they DO, or induce others to do
...
FEAR OF COMPETITION FROM FOLLOWERS
...
The able leader trains understudies to whom he may delegate, at will, any
of the details of his position
...
It is an eternal truth that men receive more pay for their ABILITY TO GET
OTHERS TO PERFORM, than they could possibly earn by their own efforts
...

5
...
Without imagination, the leader is incapable of
meeting emergencies, and of creating plans by which to guide his followers efficiently
...
SELFISHNESS
...
The really great leader CLAIMS NONE OF
THE HONORS
...

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7
...
Followers do not respect an intemperate leader
...

8
...
Perhaps this should have come at the head of the list
...
Disloyalty marks one as being
less than the dust of the earth, and brings down on one’s head the contempt he
deserves
...

9
...
The efficient leader
leads by encouraging, and not by trying to instill fear in the hearts of his followers
...
If a leader is a REAL LEADER,
he will have no need to advertise that fact except by his conduct-his sympathy,
understanding, fairness, and a demonstration that he knows his job
...
EMPHASIS OF TITLE
...
The man who makes too much over his title generally
has little else to emphasize
...

These are among the more common of the causes of failure in leadership
...
Study the list carefully if you aspire to
leadership, and make sure that you are free of these faults
...

First
...
The majority of
politicians have, seemingly, become high-grade, legalized racketeers
...


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Second
...
The leaders in this field
have almost entirely lost the confidence of the public
...

Third
...
The old type of leaders thought and moved
in terms of dividends instead of thinking and moving in terms of human equations! The future leader in industry, to endure, must regard himself as a quasipublic official whose duty it is to manage his trust in such a way that it will work
hardship on no individual, or group of individuals
...
Let the man who aspires to leadership in the field of business, industry, and labor remember this
...
The religious leader of the future will be forced to give more attention to the temporal needs of his followers, in the solution of their economic and
personal problems of the present, and less attention to the dead past, and the yet
unborn future
...
In the professions of law, medicine, and education, a new brand of leadership, and to some extent, new leaders will become a necessity
...
The leader in that field must, in the future, find ways
and means of teaching people HOW TO APPLY the knowledge they receive in
school
...

Sixth
...
Newspapers of
the future, to be conducted successfully, must be divorced from “special privilege” and relieved from the subsidy of advertising
...
The
type of newspaper which publishes scandal and lewd pictures will eventually go
the way of all forces which debauch the human mind
...
The world is undergoing a rapid change
...
The media here described, are the ones
which, more than any others, determine the trend of civilization
...
It can, therefore, be relied upon as sound and practical
...

1
...
Care must be taken to select only reputable bureaus, the management of which can show adequate records of achievement of
satisfactory results
...

2
...
Classified
advertising may usually be relied upon to produce satisfactory results in the case
of those who apply for clerical or ordinary salaried positions
...
The copy should be prepared by an expert, who
understands how to inject sufficient selling qualities to produce replies
...
PERSONAL LETTERS OF APPLICATION, directed to particular firms or individuals most apt to need such services as are being offered
...
With the letter, should be sent a
complete “brief” or outline of the applicant’s qualifications
...
(See instructions as to information to be supplied)
...
APPLICATION THROUGH PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCES
...
This method of approach is particularly advantageous in
the case of those who seek executive connections and do not wish to appear to be
“peddling” themselves
...
APPLICATION IN PERSON
...

INFORMATION TO BE SUPPLIED IN A WRITTEN “BRIEF”
This brief should be prepared as carefully as a lawyer would prepare the brief of
a case to be tried m court
...
Successful merchants employ men and women who understand the art
and the psychology of advertising to present the merits of their merchandise
...
The following information
should appear in the brief:
1
...
State briefly, but definitely, what schooling you have had, and in
what subjects you specialized in school, giving the reasons for that specialization
...
Experience
...
Be sure to bring out clearly any special experience you may have had which
would equip you to fill the position you seek
...
References
...
, of prospective employees who seek positions of
responsibility
...
Former employers
b
...
Prominent people whose judgement may be relied upon
...
Photograph of self
...

5
...
Avoid application for a position without describing EXACTLY what particular position you seek
...
”
That indicates you lack specialized qualifications
...
State your qualifications for the particular position for which you apply
...
This is THE APPLICATION
...

7
...
In the majority of instances if you are determined to have the position for which you apply, it will be most effective if you
offer to work for a week, or a month, or for a sufficient length of time to enable
your prospective employer to judge your value WITHOUT PAY
...
If you are SURE OF YOUR QUALIFICATIONS, a trial is all you need
...
It is most convincing
...
Make
clear the fact that your offer is based upon:
a
...

b
...

c
...

8
...
Before applying for a position, do sufficient research in connection with the business to familiarize yourself thoroughly with that business, and indicate in your brief the knowledge you
have acquired in this field
...
Remember that it is not the lawyer who knows
the most law, but the one who best prepares his case, who wins
...

Do not be afraid of making your brief too long
...
In fact, the success of most successful employers is due, in the main,
to their ability to select well-qualified lieutenants
...

Remember another thing; neatness in the preparation of your brief will indicate
that you are a painstaking person
...

When your brief has been completed, have it neatly bound by an experienced
binder, and lettered by an artist, or printer similar to the following:

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

BRIEF OF THE QUALIFICATIONS OF
Robert K
...

Change names each time brief is shown
...
Have your brief neatly typed
or mimeographed on the finest paper you can obtain, and bound with a heavy paper of the book-cover variety, the binder to be changed, and the proper firm name
to be inserted if it is to be shown to more than one company
...
Follow these instructions to
the letter, improving upon them wherever your imagination suggests
...
They understand that first impressions are lasting
...
Give it a good suit of clothes, so
it will stand out in bold contrast to anything your prospective employer ever saw,
in the way of an application for a position
...
Moreover, if you sell yourself to an employer
in a manner that impresses him with your individuality, you probably will receive
more money for your services from the very start, than you would if you applied
for employment in the usual conventional way
...
This will help
to gain preference for you, both with the agent, and the prospective employers
...
An artist loves
to work with paints, a craftsman with his hands, a writer loves to write
...
If America does anything well, it offers a full range of occupations, tilling the soil, manufacturing, marketing, and the professions
...
Decide EXACTLY what kind of a job you want
...

Second
...

Third
...

Fourth
...

Fifth
...
” Forget whether or not there is an opening
...

Sixth
...

Seventh
...

Every company is looking for men who can give something of value, whether it be
ideas, services, or “con-nections
...

This line of procedure may take a few days or weeks of extra time, but the difference in income, in advancement, and in gaining recognition will save years of
hard work at small pay
...

Every person who starts, or “gets in” half way up the ladder, does so by deliberate
and careful planning, (excepting, of course, the Boss’ son)
...

In the future, the “Golden Rule,” and not the “Rule of Gold” will be the dominating factor in the marketing of merchandise as well as personal services
...
The employer
b
...
The public they serve
This new way of marketing personal services is called new for many reasons, first,
both the employer and the employee of the future will be considered as fellowemployees whose business it will be to SERVE THE PUBLIC EFFICIENTLY
...

The depression served as a mighty protest from an injured public, whose rights
had been trampled upon in every direction by those who were clamoring for individual advantages and profits
...

The real employer of the future will be the public
...

Nearly every railroad in America is in financial difficulty
...
There was
a time not so very long ago when street car conductors took pride in giving argument to passengers
...
”
All over the country street car tracks are rusting from abandonment, or have been
taken up
...

HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED! That is just the point I am trying to emphasize
...
The “public-be-

104

NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

damned” policy is now passé
...

The bankers have learned a thing or two during this rapid change which has taken
place during the past few years
...
In the
years past, some bankers (not all of them, of course), carried an atmosphere of
austerity which gave every would-be borrower a chill when he even thought of
approaching his banker for a loan
...
They
now sit at desks in the open, where they may be seen and approached at will by
any depositor, or by anyone who wishes to see them, and the whole atmosphere
of the bank is one of courtesy and understanding
...

Chain stores, managed by COURTEOUS MEN who do everything in the way of
service, short of shining the customer’s shoes, have PUSHED THE OLD-TIME
MERCHANTS INTO THE BACKGROUND
...
If they fail to serve well,
they pay by the loss of their privilege of serving
...
When the door was opened, he pushed his way
in, uninvited, with a scowl on his face which plainly said, “what-the-hell-did-youkeep-me-waiting-for?” All that has undergone a change
...
”
Before the gas companies learned that their scowling meter-men were accumulating liabilities never to be cleared away, the polite salesmen of oil burners came
along and did a land office business
...

Among several very significant discoveries, was the fact that greed on the part of
operators and their employees was the chief cause of the loss of business for the
operators, and loss of jobs for the miners
...
The coal operators and their employees drove sharp
bargains with one another, adding the cost of the “bargaining” to the price of the
coal, until, finally, they discovered they had BUILT UP A WONDERFUL BUSINESS FOR THE MANUFACTURERS OF OIL BURNING OUTFITS AND THE
PRODUCERS OF CRUDE OIL
...
Now, and for several years, the entire world has been listening BY FORCE, to a sermon which might well be called “WHATSOEVER A MAN
SOWETH, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP
...
” Behind the depression was a CAUSE
...
In the main, the cause of the depression is traceable directly to the
worldwide habit of trying to REAP without SOWING
...
The trouble is that the
world sowed the wrong sort of seed
...
Beginning at the outbreak of the world war,
the people of the world began to sow the seed of service inadequate in both quality and quantity
...

These illustrations are brought to the attention of those who have personal services to market, to show that we are where we are, and what we are, because of our
own conduct! If there is a principle of cause and effect, which controls business,
finance, and transportation, this same principle controls individuals and determines their economic status
...
Unless those causes are studied, analyzed, understood and APPLIED, no man can market his services effectively and permanently
...
The QUALITY and
the QUANTITY of service rendered, and the SPIRIT in which it is rendered, determine to a large extent, the price, and the duration of employment
...
Remember the “QQS” formula,
but do more-APPLY IT AS A HABIT!
Let us analyze the formula to make sure we understand exactly what it means
...
QUALITY of service shall be construed to mean the performance of every detail, in connection with your position, in the most efficient manner possible, with
the object of greater efficiency always in mind
...
QUANTITY of service shall be understood to mean the HABIT of rendering all
the service of which you are capable, at all times, with the purpose of increasing
the amount of service ren-dered as greater skill is developed through practice and
experience
...

3
...

Adequacy of QUALITY and QUANTITY of service is not sufficient to maintain
a permanent market for your services
...

Andrew Carnegie stressed this point more than others in connection with his description of the factors which lead to success in the marketing of personal services
...
He stressed the fact that he would not retain any man, no matter how
great a QUANTITY, or how efficient the QUALITY of his work, unless he worked
in a spirit of HARMONY
...
Carnegie insisted upon men being AGREEABLE
...
Those who did not conform, had to make room for others
...
If one has a personality which PLEASES, and renders service in a spirit of HARMONY, these assets
often make up for deficiencies in both the QUALITY, and the QUANTITY of service one renders
...

107

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THINK AND GROW RICH

THE CAPITAL VALUE OF YOUR SERVICES
The person whose income is derived entirely from the sale of personal services
is no less a merchant than the man who sells commodities, and it might well be
added, such a person is subject to EXACTLY THE SAME RULES of conduct as
the merchant who sells merchandise
...

The new way of marketing services has practically forced both employer and
...

The day of the “go-getter” has passed
...
”
High-pressure methods in business finally blew the lid off
...

The actual capital value of your brains may be determined by the amount of income you can produce (by marketing your services)
...
Money rents for 6% per annum
...
It is often worth much less
...

Moreover, the money which is essential for the conduct of business is as worthless as a sand dune, until it has been mixed with efficient “brains
...
I have had the privilege of analyzing several thousand
men and women, 98% of whom were classed as “failures
...
But I did not write this book for the
purpose of moralizing on the rights and wrongs of the world; that would require
a book a hundred times the size of this one
...
In this chapter,
a description of the thirty major causes of failure will be given
...

1
...
There is but little, if anything,
which can be done for people who are born with a deficiency in brain power
...
Observe with profit, however, that this is the ONLY one of the
thirty causes of failure which may not be easily corrected by any individual
...
LACK OF A WELL-DEFINED PURPOSE IN LIFE
...
Ninety-eight out of every hundred of those whom I have analyzed, had no
such aim
...
LACK OF AMBITION TO AIM ABOVE MEDIOCRITY
...

4
...
This is a handicap which may be overcome with
comparative ease
...
It takes more than a college degree to make one a person of education
...
Education consists, not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently APPLIED
...

5
...
Discipline comes through self-control
...
Before you can control conditions, you must first control yourself
...
If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self
...

6
...
No person may enjoy outstanding success without good health
...
These, in the
main are:
a
...
Wrong habits of thought; giving expression to negatives
...
Wrong use of, and over indulgence in sex
...
Lack of proper physical exercise
e
...

7
...

“As the twig is bent, so shall the tree grow
...

8
...
This is one of the most common causes of failure
...
Most of us go through life as
failures, because we are waiting for the “time to be right” to start doing something worthwhile
...
The time will never be “just right
...

9
...
Most of us are good “starters” but poor “finishers” of
everything we begin
...
There is no substitute for PERSISTENCE
...
Failure cannot cope with PERSISTENCE
...
NEGATIVE PERSONALITY
...
Success comes through the application of POWER, and power is attained through the cooperative efforts of other
people
...

11
...
Sex energy is the most powerful
of all the stimuli which move people into ACTION
...

12
...
” The gambling instinct drives millions of people to failure
...

13
...
Men who succeed reach
decisions promptly, and change them, if at all, very slowly
...
Indecision and procrastination are twin brothers
...
Kill off this pair before they completely “hog-tie” you to the
treadmill of FAILURE
...
ONE OR MORE OF THE SIX BASIC FEARS
...
They must be mastered before you can market your
services effectively
...
WRONG SELECTION OF A MATE IN MARRIAGE
...
The relationship of marriage brings people intimately into contact
...
Moreover,
it will be a form of failure that is marked by misery and unhappiness, destroying
all signs of AMBITION
...
OVER-CAUTION
...
Over-caution is as bad as under-caution
...
Life itself is filled with the
element of chance
...
WRONG SELECTION OF ASSOCIATES IN BUSINESS
...
In marketing personal services, one
should use great care to select an employer who will be an inspiration, and who
is, himself, intelligent and successful
...
Pick an employer who is worth emu-lating
...
SUPERSTITION AND PREJUDICE
...
It is also a
sign of ignorance
...

19
...
No man can succeed in a line of
endeavor which he does not like
...

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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

20
...
The “jack-of-all-trades” seldom is
good at any
...

21
...
The spend-thrift cannot
succeed, mainly because he stands eternally in FEAR OF POVERTY
...

Money in the bank gives one a very safe foundation of COURAGE when bargaining for the sale of personal services
...

22
...
Without enthusiasm one cannot be convincing
...

23
...
The person with a “closed” mind on any subject seldom gets
ahead
...
The most
damaging forms of intolerance are those connected with religious, racial, and political differences of opinion
...
INTEMPERANCE
...
Overindulgence in any of these is
fatal to success
...
INABILITY TO COOPERATE WITH OTHERS
...
It is a fault which no well-informed business man, or leader
will tolerate
...
POSSESSION OF POWER THAT WAS NOT ACQUIRED THROUGH SELF
EFFORT
...
Power in the hands of one who did not acquire it gradually, is often fatal to success
...

27
...
There is no substitute for honesty
...
But, there is NO HOPE for the person who is
dishonest by choice
...

28
...
These qualities serve as red lights which warn others to keep away
...


112

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THINK AND GROW RICH

29
...
Most people are too indifferent or lazy
to acquire FACTS with which to THINK ACCURATELY
...

30
...
This is a common cause of failure among those who start
out in business for the first time, without sufficient reserve of capital to absorb
the shock of their mistakes, and to carry them over until they have established a
REPUTATION
...
Under this, name any particular cause of failure from which you have
suffered that has not been included in the foregoing list
...
It will be helpful
if you can induce someone who knows you well to go over this list with you, and
help to analyze you by the thirty causes of failure
...
Most people cannot see themselves as others see them
...

The oldest of admonitions is “Man, know thyself!” If you market merchandise
successfully, you must know the merchandise
...
You should know all of your weaknesses in order that you may
either bridge them or eliminate them entirely
...
You can know
yourself only through accurate analysis
...
He made a very
good impression until the manager asked him what salary he expected
...
The manager then said, “We will pay you all
you are worth, alter we try you out for a week
...
”
Before you even start to negotiate for a readjustment of your salary in your present
position, or to seek employment elsewhere, BE SURE THAT YOU ARE WORTH
MORE THAN YOU NOW RECEIVE
...
Your financial requirements or wants have nothing whatever to do
with your WORTH
...


TAKE INVENTORY OF YOURSELF
28 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ANSWER
Annual self-analysis is an essential in the effective marketing of personal services,
as is annual inventory in merchandising
...
One goes
ahead, stands still, or goes backward in life
...
Annual self-analysis will disclose whether advancement has been,
made, and if so, how much
...
The effective marketing of personal services requires one to move forward
even if the progress is slow
...
Take this inventory by asking yourself the following
questions, and by checking your answers with the aid of someone who will not
permit you to deceive yourself as to their accuracy
...
Have I attained the goal which I established as my objective for this year? (You
should work with a definite yearly objective to be attained as a part of your major
life objective)
...
Have I delivered service of the best possible QUALITY of which I was capable,
or could I have improved any part of this service?
3
...
Has the spirit of my conduct been harmonious, and cooperative at all times?
5
...
Have I improved my PERSONALITY, and if so, in what ways?
7
...
Have I reached DECISIONS PROMPTLY AND DEFINITELY on all occasions?
9
...
Have I been either “over-cautious,” or “under-cautious?”
11
...
Have I dissipated any of my energy through lack of CONCENTRATION of effort?
13
...
In what way have I improved my ability to render service?
15
...
Have I expressed, either openly or secretly, any form of EGOTISM?
17
...
Have my opinions and DECISIONS been based upon guesswork, or accuracy
of analysis and THOUGHT?
19
...
How much time have I devoted to UNPROFITABLE effort which I might have
used to better advantage?
21
...
Have I been guilty of any conduct which was not approved by my conscience?
23
...
Have I been unfair to anyone, and if so, in what way?
25
...
Am I in the right vocation, and if not, why not?
27
...
What is my present rating on the fundamental principles of success? (Make
this rating fairly, and frankly, and have it checked by someone who is courageous
enough to do it accurately)
...
In
this chapter will be found an adequate description of every principle essential in
planning the sale of personal services, including the major attributes of leadership; the most common causes of failure in leadership; a description of the fields
of opportunity for leadership; the main causes of failure in all walks of life, and
the important questions which should be used in self-analysis
...
Those who have lost their fortunes, and those who are just beginning
to earn money, have nothing but personal services to offer in return for riches,
therefore it is essential that they have available the practical information needed
to market services to best advantage
...
It will be particularly helpful to those aiming
to market their services as business or industrial executives
...
The information will be priceless to personnel directors, employment managers, and other executives charged

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THINK AND GROW RICH

with the selection of employees, and the maintenance of efficient organizations
...
That might be both interesting and profitable, even
though you do not doubt the sound -ness of the statement
...

To begin with, let us remember, all of us, that we live in a country where every
law-abiding citizen enjoys freedom of thought and freedom of deed unequaled
anywhere in the world
...
We have never compared our unlimited freedom with the curtailed freedom in other countries
...

We have other forms of freedom, but this list will give a bird’s eye view of the
most important, which constitute OPPORTUNITY of the highest order
...

Next, let us recount some of the blessings which our widespread freedom has
placed within our hands
...
FOOD
...
Because of our universal freedom

117

NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

the average American family has available, at its very door, the choicest selection
of food to be found anywhere in the world, and at prices within its financial range
...
02
Rippled Wheat Breakfast food (Kansas Farm)
...
02
Bananas (From South America)
...
01
Fresh Country Eggs (From Utah)
...
00½
Butter and Cream (From New England)
...
20
It is not very difficult to obtain FOOD in a country where two people can have
breakfast consisting of all they want or need for a dime apiece! Observe that this
simple breakfast was gathered, by some strange form of magic (?) from China,
South America, Utah, Kansas and the New England States, and delivered on the
breakfast table, ready for consumption, in the very heart of the most crowded city
in America, at a cost well within the means of the most humble laborer
...

b
...
This family lives in a comfortable apartment, heated by steam,
lighted with electricity, with gas for cooking, all for $65
...
In a smaller
city, or a more sparsely settled part of New York city, the same apartment could
be had for as low as $20
...

The toast they had for breakfast in the food estimate was toasted on an electric
toaster, which cost but a few dollars, the apartment is cleaned with a vacuum
sweeper that is run by electricity
...
The food is kept cool in a refrigerator that is run
by electricity
...
The husband shaves with an electric shaver, and they receive entertainment
from all over the world, twenty four hours a day, if they want it, without cost, by
merely turning the dial of their radio
...
(And this is neither political nor economic
propaganda)
...
CLOTHING
...
00 a year,
and the average man can dress for the same, or less
...
The average American citizen has other privileges and advantages available in return for modest effort, not exceeding eight hours per day of labor
...

The average American has security of property rights not found in any other country in the world
...
If an
American citizen wants to travel from one state to another he needs no passport,
no one’s permission
...
Moreover, he
may travel by train, private automobile, bus, airplane, or ship, as his pocketbook
permits
...


THE “MIRACLE” THAT HAS PROVIDED THESE BLESSINGS
We often hear politicians proclaiming the freedom of America, when they solicit
votes, but seldom do they take the time or devote sufficient effort to the analysis of the source or nature of this “freedom
...

I have the right to analyze the source and nature of this UNSEEN POWER, because I know, and have known for more than a quarter of a century, many of the
men who organized that power, and many who are now responsible for its maintenance
...
These groups consist of scientists, educators, chemists, inventors, business analysts, publicity men, transportation experts, accountants, lawyers, doctors, and both men and women who
have highly specialized knowledge in all fields of industry and business
...
They support colleges, hospitals, public schools, build good roads, publish newspapers,
pay most of the cost of government, and take care of the multitudinous detail essential to human progress
...

Money, without brains, always is dangerous
...
The simple breakfast here described could not have
been delivered to the New York family at a dime each, or at any other price, if organized capital had not provided the machinery, the ships, the railroads, and the
huge armies of trained men to operate them
...

To supply the tea, you would have to make a trip to China or India, both a very
long way from America
...
Then, too, another problem would confront you
...
But even then, you might come back
without the sugar, because organized effort and money are necessary to produce
sugar, to say nothing of what is required to refine, transport, and deliver it to the
breakfast table anywhere in the United States
...
You would have another long walk, to
Kansas, or one of the other wheat growing states, when you went after the four
slices of wheat bread
...

While resting, you could take off for another little swim down to South America,
where you would pick up a couple of bananas, and on your return, you could
take a short walk to the nearest farm having a dairy and pick up some butter and
cream
...

The sum of money required for the building and maintenance of the railroads and
steam ships used in the delivery of that simple breakfast is so huge that it staggers
one’s imagination
...
But, transportation is only a part of the requirements of modern civilization in capitalistic
America
...
This calls for more millions of dollars for equipment, machinery, boxing, marketing, and for the wages
of millions of men and women
...
They come in response to the call of civilization, through the labor and
ingenuity and organizing ability of men who have IMAGINATION, FAITH, ENTHUSIASM, DECISION, PERSISTENCE! These men are known as capitalists
...
And, because they RENDER SERVICE
WITHOUT WHICH THERE WOULD BE NO CIVILIZATION, they put themselves in the way of great riches
...
They are the same men to whom radicals, racketeers, dishonest politicians
and grafting labor leaders refer as “the predatory interests,” or “Wall Street
...
I am not attempting to condemn collective bargaining when I
refer to “grafting labor leaders,” nor do I aim to give a clean bill of health to all
individuals known as capitalists
...

I have here analyzed the economic advantages of the capitalistic system for the
two-fold purpose of showing:
1
...
to present the side of the picture opposite to that being shown by politicians
and demagogues who deliberately becloud the issues they bring up, by referring
to organized capital as if it were something poisonous
...

For more than twenty years it has been a somewhat popular and growing pastime
for radicals, self-seeking politicians, racketeers, crooked labor leaders, and on
occasion religious leaders, to take pot-shots at “WALL STREET, THE MONEY
CHANGERS, and BIG BUSINESS
...
The lineup was so general and so well organized that it prolonged the worst depression
America has ever known
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

During this unusual alliance of government officials and self-seeking individuals who were endeavoring to profit by declaring “open season” on the American
system of industry, a certain type of labor leader joined forces with the politicians
and offered to deliver voters in return for legislation designed to permit men to
TAKE RICHES AWAY FROM INDUSTRY BY ORGANIZED FORCE OF NUMBERS, INSTEAD OF THE BETTER METHOD OF GIVING A FAIR DAY’S WORK
FOR A FAIR DAY’S PAY
...
Some of them are lined up with
labor unions, where they demand SHORTER HOURS AND MORE PAY! Others
do not take the trouble to work at all
...
Their idea of their rights of freedom was demonstrated
in New York City, where violent complaint was registered with the Postmaster,
by a group of “relief beneficiaries,” because the Postmen awakened them at 7:30
A
...
to deliver Government relief checks
...

If you are one of those who believe that riches can be accumulated by the mere act
of men who organize themselves into groups and demand MORE PAY for LESS
SERVICE, if you are one of those who DEMAND Government relief without early
morning disturbance when the money is delivered to you, if you are one of those
who believe in trading their votes to politicians in return for the passing of laws
which permit the raiding of the public treasury, you may rest securely on your
belief, with certain knowledge that no one will disturb you, because THIS IS A
FREE COUNTRY WHERE EVERY MAN MAY THINK AS HE PLEASES, where
nearly everybody can live with but little effort, where many may live well without
doing any work whatsoever
...
As great as it is, as far as it reaches,
as many privileges as it provides, IT DOES NOT, AND CANNOT BRING RICHES
WITHOUT EFFORT
...
No system has ever been created by which
men can legally acquire riches through mere force of numbers, or without giving
in return an equivalent value of one form or another
...

It is a law no man can beat
...


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NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

It is above and beyond the control of all the labor unions
...

Moreover, IT HAS AN ALL-SEEING EYE, AND A PERFECT SYSTEM OF BOOKKEEPING, in which it keeps an accurate account of the transactions of every human being engaged in the business of trying to get without giving
...

“Wall Street, Big Business, Capital Predatory Interests,” or whatever name you
choose to give the system which has given us AMERICAN FREEDOM, represents
a group of men who understand, respect, and adapt themselves to this powerful
LAW OF ECONOMICS! Their financial continuation depends upon their respecting the law
...
I must confess I know of no better country, where one may find greater
opportunities to accumulate riches
...
That, of course is their privilege; if they
do not like this country, its capitalistic system, its boundless opportunities, THEY
HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF CLEARING OUT! Always there are other countries,
such as Germany, Russia, and Italy, where one may try one’s hand at enjoying
freedom, and accumulating riches providing one is not too particular
...
When one goes hunting for game, one selects
hunting grounds where game is plentiful
...

If it is riches you are seeking, do not overlook the possibilities of a country whose
citizens are so rich that women, alone, spend over two hundred million dollars
annually for lip-sticks, rouge and cosmetics
...
” By all means give plenty of consideration to
a country whose people spend annually more than fifteen million dollars for the
privilege of seeing moving pictures, and toss in a few additional millions for liquor, narcotics, and other less potent soft drinks and giggle-waters
...
And, by all means, STICK by a country whose inhabitants give up
more than a million dollars a year for chewing gum, and another million for safety razor blades
...
Only a few of the luxuries and non-essentials have been
mentioned
...

Especially remember, that back of all this exchange of merchandise and personal
services may be found an abundance of OPPORTUNITY to accumulate riches
...
There is nothing to stop
you, or anyone from engaging in any portion of the effort necessary to carry on
these businesses
...
Those not so fortunate may accumulate smaller
amounts
...

So-there you are!
OPPORTUNITY has spread its wares before you
...
“Capitalistic” America will do the rest
...

The “System” denies no one this right, but it does not, and cannot promise SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, because the system, itself, is irrevocably controlled by
the LAW OF ECONOMICS which neither recognizes nor tolerates for long, GETTING WITHOUT GIVING
...
The law hands out both penalties for its
violation, and appropriate rewards for its observance, without interference or the
possibility of interference by any human being
...
It is
as fixed as the stars in the heavens, and subject to, and a part of the same system
that controls the stars
...

What happens then?
Well, nothing happens until large numbers of men join forces for the avowed purpose of ignoring the law, and taking what they want by force
...
Perhaps we hal1 be fortunate enough not to
demand personal knowledge of so gruesome a reality
...

The practice, by Government officials of extending to men and women the privilege of raiding the public treasury in return for votes, sometimes results in election, but as night follows day, the final payoff comes; when every penny wrongfully used, must be repaid with compound interest on compound interest
...
” There is no
way to avoid the debt
...
There is a point
beyond which they cannot go
...

For six years, from 1929, to 1935, the people of America, both rich and poor,
barely missed seeing the Old Man Economics hand over to the sheriff all the businesses, and industries and banks
...

We who went through those six discouraging years, when FEAR WAS IN THE
SADDLE, AND FAITH WAS ON THE GROUND, cannot forget how ruthlessly the
LAW OF ECONOMICS exacted its toll from both rich and poor, weak and strong,
old and young
...

126

NAPOLEON HILL

THINK AND GROW RICH

These observations are not founded upon short-time experience
...


127

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THINK AND GROW RICH

Chapter 8
DECISION: THE MASTERY OF PROCRASTINATION
—
The Seventh Step toward Riches
ACCURATE analysis of over 25,000 men and women who had experienced failure, disclosed the fact that LACK OF DECISION was near the head of the list
of the 30 major causes of FAILURE
...
PROCRASTINATION, the opposite of DECISION, is a common enemy
which practically every man must conquer
...

Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond
the million dollar mark, disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of
REACHING DECISIONS PROMPTLY, and of changing these decisions SLOWLY,
if, and when they were changed
...

One of Henry Ford’s most outstanding qualities is his habit of reaching decisions
quickly and definitely, and changing them slowly
...
Ford, that it has given him the reputation of being obstinate
...
Ford to continue to manufacture his famous Model
“T” (the world’s ugliest car), when all of his advisors, and many of the purchasers
of the car, were urging him to change it
...
Ford delayed too long in making the change, but the other side of
the story is, that Mr
...
There is but little doubt that Mr
...

The majority of people who fail to accumulate money sufficient for their needs,
are, generally, easily influenced by the “opinions” of others
...
“Opinions
are the cheapest commodities on earth
...
If you are influenced by “opinions”
when you reach DECISIONS, you will not succeed in any undertaking, much less
in that of transmuting YOUR OWN DESIRE into money
...
Keep your own counsel, when you begin to put into practice the principles
described here, by reaching your own decisions and following them
...

Close friends and relatives, while not meaning to do so, often handicap one
through “opinions” and sometimes through ridicule, which is meant to be humorous
...

You have a brain and mind of your own
...
If
you need facts or information from other people, to enable you to reach decisions,
as you probably will in many instances; acquire these facts or secure the information you need quietly, without disclosing your purpose
...
Such people generally do TOO MUCH talking, and TOO LITTLE listening
...
Those who talk too much do little else
...

Remember, also, that every time you open your mouth in the presence of a person who has an abundance of knowledge, you display to that person, your exact
stock of knowledge, or your LACK of it! Genuine wisdom is usually conspicuous
through modesty and silence
...
If you talk about your plans too
freely, you may be surprised when you learn that some other person has beaten
you to your goal by PUTTING INTO ACTION AHEAD OF YOU, the plans of which
you talked unwisely
...
As a reminder to yourself to follow this advice, it will be helpful if
you copy the following epigram in large letters and place it where you will see it
daily
...
”
This is the equivalent of saying that “deeds, and not words, are what count
most
...
The
great decisions, which served as the foundation of civilization, were reached by
assuming great risks, which often meant the possibility of death
...
He knew, too, that the carrying out of that proclamation would mean death
to thousands of men on the battlefield
...
That
required courage
...
It turned Time ahead a thousand years,
and gave to people then unborn, the right to freedom of thought and of speech
...
Robert E
...

But, the greatest decision of all time, as far as any American citizen is concerned,
was reached in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776, when fifty-six men signed their names
to a document, which they well knew would bring freedom to all Americans, or
leave every one of the fifty-six hanging from a gallows!
You have heard of this famous document, but you may not have drawn from it the
great lesson in personal achievement it so plainly taught
...
We remember our history, as it was taught; we
remember dates, and the names of the men who fought; we remember Valley
Forge, and Yorktown; we remember George Washington, and Lord Cornwallis
...
We
know still less of that intangible POWER, which insured us freedom long before
Washington’s armies reached Yorktown
...
This is not
intended to rob Washington of any of the glory he so richly merited
...
It is nothing short of tragedy that the writers of history have missed, entirely, even the slightest reference to the irresistible POWER,
which gave birth and freedom to the nation destined to set up new standards of
independence for all the peoples of the earth
...

Let us briefly review the events which gave birth to this POWER
...
British soldiers were patroling the
streets, by their presence, openly threatening the citizens
...
They began to express their resentment
openly, hurling stones as well as epithets, at the marching soldiers, until the commanding officer gave orders, “Fix bayonets
...
It resulted in the death and injury of many
...
Two of the
members of that Assembly were, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams-LONG LIVE
THEIR NAMES! They spoke up courageously, and declared that a move must be
made to eject all British soldiers from Boston
...
Remember, too, that the DECISION of these two men called for FAITH, and COURAGE,
because it was dangerous
...
The request was granted, the troops were removed from Boston, but the
incident was not closed
...
Strange, is it not, how the great changes, such as the American Revolution, and the World War, often have their beginnings in circumstances
which seem unimportant? It is interesting, also, to observe that these important
changes usually begin in the form of a DEFINITE DECISION in the minds of a
relatively small number of people
...

Richard Henry Lee became an important factor in this story by reason of the fact
that he and Samuel Adams communicated frequently (by correspondence), sharing freely their fears and their hopes concerning the welfare of the people of their
Provinces
...

Two years after the clash with the soldiers in Boston (March `72), Adams presented this idea to the Assembly, in the form of a motion that a Correspondence
Committee be established among the Colonies, with definitely appointed correspondents in each Colony, “for the purpose of friendly cooperation for the betterment of the Colonies of British America
...
The Master Mind had already
been organized
...
“I tell you further, that
if two of you agree upon the earth concerning anything for which you ask, it will
come to you from My Father, who is in Heaven
...
Observe that this move provided the way for increasing the power of the Master Mind by adding to it men
from all the Colonies
...

In union there is strength! The citizens of the Colonies had been waging disorganized warfare against the British soldiers, through incidents similar to the Boston
riot, but nothing of benefit had been accomplished
...
No group of individuals had
put their hearts, minds, souls, and bodies together in one definite DECISION to
settle their difficulty with the British once and for all, until Adams, Hancock, and
Lee got together
...
They, too, were doing some PLANNING
and “Master-Minding” on their own account, with the advantage of having back
of them money, and organized soldiery
...
One of the new Governor’s first
acts was to send a messenger to call on Samuel Adams, for the purpose of endeavoring to stop his opposition-by FEAR
...
Fenton, (the messenger sent by Gage), and Adams
...
Fenton: “I have been authorized by Governor Gage, to assure you, Mr
...
It is the Governor’s advice to you, Sir, not to incur the further displeasure of his majesty
...

But, BY CHANGING YOUR POLITICAL COURSE, you will not only receive great
personal advantages, but you will make your peace with the King
...
He could cease his opposition,
and receive personal bribes, or he could CONTINUE, AND RUN THE RISK OF
BEING HANGED!
Clearly, the time had come when Adams was forced to reach instantly, a DECISION which could have cost his life
...
The majority would have sent back an evasive
reply, but not Adams! He insisted upon Col
...
Adams’ answer, “Then you may tell Governor Gage that I trust I have long
since made my peace with the King of Kings
...
And, TELL GOVERNOR
GAGE IT IS THE ADVICE OF SAMUEL ADAMS TO HIM, no longer to insult the
feelings of an exasperated people
...
It must be obvious
to all who read this astounding message that its sender possessed loyalty of the
highest order
...
(Racketeers and dishonest politicians have prostituted the honor for which such men as Adams died)
...
”
As one might say, in modern slang, Adams and Hancock were “on the spot!” The
threat of the irate Governor forced the two men to reach another DECISION,
equally as dangerous
...
(Here the Master Mind began to take on momentum)
...

Great excitement followed
...
(Old Man Fear)
...
Locked in that room were TWO MEN
immune to Fear, blind to the possibility of Failure
...
Through
the influence of their minds, the others were induced to agree that, through the
Correspondence Committee, arrangements should be made for a meeting of the
First Continental Congress, to be held in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774
...
It is more important than July 4, 1776
...

Before the first meeting of the new Congress, another leader, in a different section of the country was deep in the throes of publishing a “Summary View of the
Rights of British America
...

Shortly after his famous Summary of Rights was published, Jefferson was informed that he was subject to prosecution for high treason against his majesty’s
government
...
”
It was such men as these who, without power, without authority, without military
strength, without money, sat in solemn consideration of the destiny of the colo-

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nies, beginning at the opening of the First Continental Congress, and continuing
at intervals for two years-until on June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee arose, addressed the Chair, and to the startled Assembly made this motion:
“Gentlemen, I make the motion that these United Colonies are, and of right ought
to be free and independent states, that they be absolved from all allegiance to the
British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of
Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved
...
Finally, after days of argument, he again took the floor, and
declared, in a clear, firm voice, “Mr
...
It is the only course for us to follow
...
Let her
arise, not to devastate and to conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace, and
of law
...
She demands of us a living example
of freedom, that may exhibit a contrast, in the felicity of the citizen, to the ever
increasing tyranny
...

Shortly thereafter the President of the Congress (Hancock), appointed Jefferson
as Chairman of a Committee to draw up a Declaration of Independence
...

The document was drawn, and on June 28, the original draft was read before the
Congress
...
On July 4,
1776, Thomas Jefferson stood before the Assembly, and fearlessly read the most
momentus DECISION ever placed upon paper
...


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When Jefferson finished, the document was voted upon, accepted, and signed by
the fifty-six men, every one staking his own life upon his DECISION to write his
name
...

By decisions made in a similar spirit of Faith, and only by such decisions, can men
solve their personal problems, and win for themselves high estates of material
and spiritual wealth
...
Note well, the fact that it was their DECISION which insured the success of Washington’s armies, because the spirit of
that decision was in the heart of every soldier who fought with him, and served as
a spiritual power which recognizes no such thing as FAILURE
...

This POWER is made up of the principles described in this book
...

Throughout this philosophy will be found the suggestion that thought, backed by
strong DESIRE, has a tendency to transmute itself into its physical equivalent
...

In your search for the secret of the method, do not look for a miracle, because you
will not find it
...
These laws are available to every person who has the FAITH and the COURAGE to use them
...
There is no
charge save the time necessary to understand and appropriate them
...
The leaders in every walk of life DECIDE quickly, and firmly
...
The world has the habit of making room for
the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going
...
The habit takes on permanency as the youth goes through graded school, high school, and even through
college, without DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE
...

It would be beneficial if no college would permit the enrollment of any student,
unless and until the student declared his major purpose in matriculating
...

The habit of INDECISION acquired because of the deficiencies of our school systems, goes with the student into the occupation he chooses
...
in fact, he
chooses his occupation
...
He takes the first place he finds, because he has fallen into the habit
of INDECISION
...

DEFINITENESS OF DECISION always requires courage, sometimes very great
courage
...
The person who reaches a DEFINITE DECISION to procure the particular job, and make
life pay the price he asks, does not stake his life on that decision; he stakes his
ECONOMIC FREEDOM
...
The person who desires riches in
the same spirit that Samuel Adams desired freedom for the Colonies, is sure to
accumulate wealth
...
You will find also detailed information on how to choose the employer you prefer, and the particular job you desire
...


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Chapter 9
PERSISTENCE: THE SUSTAINED EFFORT NECESSARY TO INDUCE
FAITH
—
The Eighth Step toward Riches
PERSISTENCE is an essential factor in the procedure of transmuting DESIRE
into its monetary equivalent
...

Will-power and desire, when properly combined, make an irresistible pair
...
Often they are misunderstood
...

Henry Ford has been generally misunderstood to be ruthless and cold-blooded
...

The majority of people are ready to throw their aims and purposes overboard,
and give up at the first sign of opposition or misfortune
...
These few are the Fords, Carnegies,
Rockefellers, and Edisons
...
The building of a fortune, generally, involves the application of the entire thirteen factors of this philosophy
...

If you are following this book with the intention of applying the knowledge it conveys, your first test as to your PERSISTENCE will come when you begin to follow
the six steps described in the second chapter
...


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The author is checking you up at this point, because lack of persistence is one of
the major causes of failure
...
It is
a weakness which may be overcome by effort
...

The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE
...

Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small
amount of heat
...

Continue to read through to the end, then go back to Chapter two, and start immediately to carry out the instructions given in connection with the six steps
...
If you find that you
are indifferent, you may be sure that you have not yet acquired the “money consciousness” which you must possess, before you can be sure of accumulating a
fortune
...
In this book may be found all the
stimuli necessary to “attune” any normal mind to the vibrations which will attract
the object of one’s desires
...
You will find additional instructions for the
development of persistence in the chapters on auto-suggestion, and the subconscious mind
...
From that point on, you will not be handicapped by lack of persistence
...
Spasmodic, or occasional effort to apply the rules will be of no value
to you
...
In no other way can you develop the necessary
“money consciousness
...
POVERTY CONSCIOUSNESS WILL VOLUNTARILY SEIZE THE
MIND WHICH IS NOT OCCUPIED WITH THE MONEY CONSCIOUSNESS
...
The money consciousness must be created to order, unless one is born
with such a consciousness
...
Without PERSISTENCE, you will be defeated, even before you start
...

If you have ever experienced a nightmare, you will realize the value of persistence
...
You
are unable to turn over, or to move a muscle
...
Through persistent effort of will-power, you
finally manage to move the fingers of one hand
...
Then
you gain control of the other arm in the same manner
...
THEN-WITH
ONE SUPREME EFFORT OF WILL- you regain complete control over your muscular system, and “snap” out of your nightmare
...

You may find it necessary to “snap” out of your mental inertia, through a similar procedure, moving slowly at first, then increasing your speed, until you gain
complete control over your will
...

WITH PERSISTENCE WILL COME SUCCESS
...
Some men who
have accumulated great fortunes, did so because of NECESSITY
...

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PERSISTENCE! It cannot be supplanted by
any other quality! Remember this, and it will hearten you, in the beginning, when
the going may seem difficult and slow
...
No matter how many times
they are defeated, they finally arrive up toward the top of the ladder
...
Those who pick themselves up after
defeat and keep on trying, arrive; and the world cries, “Bravo! I knew you could
do it!” The hidden Guide lets no one enjoy great achievement without passing the
PERSISTENCE TEST
...

Those who can “take it” are bountifully rewarded for their PERSISTENCE
...
That is not all!
They receive something infinitely more important than material compensationthe knowledge that
“EVERY FAILURE BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT ADVANTAGE
...
They are the ones who have not accepted defeat as being anything more than temporary
...
We who stand on the side-lines of Life see the overwhelmingly large number who go down in defeat, never to rise again
...
These, fortunately, never learn to accept Life’s reverse gear
...
If we
speak of this power at all we call it PERSISTENCE, and let it go at that
...

As these lines are being written, I look up from my work, and see before me,
less than a block away, the great mysterious “Broadway,” the “Graveyard of Dead
Hopes,” and the “Front Porch of Opportunity
...
Once in a great while someone steps out from the
long procession of seekers, and the world hears that another person has mastered
Broadway
...
She acknowledges
talent, recognizes genius, pays off in money, only after one has refused to QUIT
...
The
secret is always inseparably attached to one word, PERSISTENCE!

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The secret is told in the struggle of Fannie Hurst, whose PERSISTENCE conquered the Great White Way
...
The conversion did not come quickly, BUT IT CAME
...
She spent her days laboring, and her nights HOPING
...
I’m going to force you to give up
...
The average writer, like the “average” in other walks of life, would have given up the job when the first rejection slip
came
...

Then came the “payoff
...
From that time on publishers made a beaten
path to her door
...
Then the
moving picture men discovered her, and money came not in small change, but in
floods
...
00, said to be the highest price ever paid for a story before publication
...

Briefly, you have a description of what PERSISTENCE is capable of achieving
...
Wherever men and women accumulate great riches, you may be sure they first acquired PERSISTENCE
...

Kate Smith will say “amen” when she reads this
...
Broadway said
to her, “Come and get it, if you can take it
...
” Miss Smith named her
price!
It was plenty
...

Verily it pays to be PERSISTENT!
And here is an encouraging statement which carries with it a suggestion of great
significance- THOUSANDS OF SINGERS WHO EXCEL KATE SMITH ARE

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THINK AND GROW RICH

WALKING UP AND DOWN BROADWAY LOOKING FOR A “BREAK”- WITHOUT SUCCESS
...
Persistence is
a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated
...
DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE
...
A strong
motive forces one to surmount many difficulties
...
DESIRE
...

c
...
Belief in one’s ability to carry out a plan encourages one to
follow the plan through with persistence
...

d
...
Organized plans, even though they may be weak
and entirely impractical, encourage persistence
...
ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE
...

f
...
Sympathy, understanding, and harmonious cooperation
with others tend to develop persistence
...
WILL-POWER
...

h
...
Persistence is the direct result of habit
...
Fear, the worst of all
enemies, can be effectively cured by forced repetition of cwt8 of courage
...

Before leaving the subject of PERSISTENCE, take inventory of yourself, and determine in what particular, if any, you are lacking in this essential quality
...
The analysis may lead to discoveries that will give you a
new grip on yourself
...
Here you will find not only the “symptoms” indicating weakness of
PERSISTENCE, but also the deeply seated subconscious causes of this weakness
...

These are the weaknesses which must be mastered by all who accumulate riches
...
Failure to recognize and to clearly define exactly what one wants
...
Procrastination, with or without cause
...

3
...

4
...
(Also backed by alibis)
...
The habit of relying upon alibis instead of creating definite plans for the solution of problems
...
Self-satisfaction
...

7
...

8
...

9
...

10
...
(Based upon one
or more of the 6 basic fears)
...
Lack of ORGANIZED PLANS, placed in writing where they may be analyzed
...
The habit of neglecting to move on ideas, or to grasp opportunity when it
presents itself
...
WISHING instead of WILLING
...
The habit of compromising with POVERTY instead of aiming at riches
...

15
...

16
...
This enemy belongs at the head
of the list, because it generally exists in one’s subconscious mind, where its presence is not recognized
...

Let us examine some of the symptoms of the Fear of Criticism
...

Huge numbers of people make mistakes in marriage, stand by the bargain, and
go through life miserable and unhappy, because they fear criticism which may
follow if they correct the mistake
...

Millions of people neglect to acquire belated educations, after having left school,
because they fear criticism
...
(Duty does not require any person to submit to the destruction of
his personal ambitions and the right to live his own life in his own way)
...
The fear of criticism, in such cases is stronger than the
DESIRE for success
...

When Andrew Carnegie suggested that I devote twenty years to the organization
of a philosophy of individual achievement my first impulse of thought was fear of
what people might say
...
As quick as a flash, my mind began to create alibis
and excuses, all of them traceable to the inherent FEAR OF CRITICISM
...

It seemed as if the whole world had suddenly turned its attention to me with the
purpose of ridiculing me into giving up all desire to carry out Mr
...

I had a fine opportunity, then and there, to kill off ambition before it gained control of me
...

The time to nurse an idea is at the time of its birth
...
The FEAR OF CRITICISM is at the bottom of the
destruction of most ideas which never reach the PLANNING and ACTION stage
...
”
There is an element of ground for the belief, but those depending entirely upon
luck, are nearly always disappointed, because they overlook another important
factor which must be present before one can be sure of success
...

During the depression, W
...
Fields, the comedian, lost all his money, and found
himself without income, without a job, and his means of earning a living (vaudeville) no longer existed
...
” He was so eager to stage a comeback that he offered to work
without pay, in a new field (movies)
...
To many that would have been the place to give up and QUIT
...
He knew that if he carried on he would get the
“breaks” sooner or later, and he did get them, but not by chance
...
She, too, went after the “breaks,” and got them
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

Eddie Cantor lost his money in the 1929 stock crash, but he still had his PERSISTENCE and his courage
...
The only “break” anyone
can afford to rely upon is a self-made “break
...
The starting point is DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE
...
If you press them for an
answer, some will say-SECURITY, many will say-MONEY, a few will say-HAPPINESS, others will say-FAME AND POWER, and still others will say-SOCIAL
RECOGNITION, EASE IN LIVING, ABILITY TO SING, DANCE, or WRITE, but
none of them will be able to define these terms, or give the slightest indication of
a PLAN by which they hope to attain these vaguely expressed wishes
...
They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite
desires, through constant PERSISTENCE
...
They call
for no great amount of intelligence, no particular amount of education, and but
little time or effort
...
A DEFINITE PURPOSE BACKED BY BURNING DESIRE FOR ITS FULFILLMENT
...
A DEFINITE PLAN, EXPRESSED IN CONTINUOUS ACTION
...
A MIND CLOSED TIGHTLY AGAINST ALL NEGATIVE AND DISCOURAGING INFLUENCES, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends and acquaintances
...
A FRIENDLY ALLIANCE WITH ONE OR MORE PERSONS WHO WILL ENCOURAGE ONE TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH BOTH PLAN AND PURPOSE
...
The entire purpose
of the thirteen principles of this philosophy is to enable one to take these four
steps as a matter of habit
...
They are the steps that lead to freedom and independence of
thought
...
They
lead the way to power, fame, and worldly recognition
...
” They are the steps that convert dreams into
physical realities
...

There is a magnificent reward for all who learn to take these four steps
...

I have no way of knowing the facts, but I venture to conjecture that Mrs
...
There was a burning desire, and careful searching at every step
of the way
...
What is the greatest thing on earth? The
Master called it love-not man made rules, criticism, bitterness, slander, or political “marriages,” but love
...
Twice when she had failed to find it, she had the courage to continue her
search
...
”
Her rise from obscurity was of the slow, progressive, PERSISTENT order, but
it was SURE! She triumphed over unbelievably long odds; and, no matter who
you are, or what you may think of Wallis Simpson, or the king who gave up his
Crown for her love, she is an astounding example of applied PERSISTENCE, an
instructor on the rules of self-determination, from whom the entire world might
profitably take lessons
...
Women who complain that this is
a man’s world, that women do not have an equal chance to win, owe it to themselves to study carefully the life of this unusual woman, who, at an age which most
women consider “old,” captured the affections of the most desirable bachelor in
the entire world
...
The rest of us can only conjecture
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

He was born to great riches, without requesting them
...
Because he was the first born of his parents, he inherited
a crown, which he did not seek, and perhaps did not desire
...

Some will say, “With all these blessings, King Edward should have found peace of
mind, contentment, and joy of living
...

His greatest DESIRE was for love
...
And when he met a kindred spirit, crying out for this same Holy privilege of expression, he recognized
it, and without fear or apology, opened his heart and bade it enter
...

King Edward’s DECISION to give up the crown of the world’s most powerful empire, for the privilege of going the remainder of the way through life with the
woman of his choice, was a decision that required courage
...
”
As a suggestion to any evil-minded person who chooses to find fault with the Duke
of Windsor, because his DESIRE was for LOVE, and for openly declaring his love
for Wallis Simpson, and giving up his throne for her, let it be remembered that
the OPEN DECLARATION was not essential
...
But this unusual man was
built of sterner stuff
...
It was deep and sincere
...

If Europe had been blessed with more rulers with the human heart and the traits
of honesty of ex-king Edward, for the past century, that unfortunate hemisphere
now seething with greed, hate, lust, political connivance, and threats of war,

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would have a DIFFERENT AND A BETTER STORY TO TELL
...

In the words of Stuart Austin Wier we raise our cup and drink this toast to ex-king
Edward and Wallis Simpson: “Blessed is the man who has come to know that
our muted thoughts are our sweetest thoughts
...
’”
In these words would we pay tribute to the two people who, more than all others
of modern times, have been the victims of criticism and the recipients of abuse,
because they found Life’s greatest treasure, and claimed it
...
Simpson read
and approved this analysis
...
ALL
OF US CAN PROFIT by following their example in our own search for that which
we demand of life
...

Or, Thomas A
...

I had the happy privilege of analyzing both Mr
...
Ford, year by
year, over a long period of years, and therefore, the opportunity to study them at
close range, so I speak from actual knowledge when I say that I found no quality
save PERSISTENCE, in either of them, that even remotely suggested the major
source of their stupendous achievements
...

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Consider, for example, the strange and fascinating story of Mohammed; analyze
his life, compare him with men of achievement in this modern age of industry and
finance, and observe how they have one outstanding trait in common, PERSISTENCE!
If you are keenly interested in studying the strange power which gives potency
to PERSISTENCE, read a biography of Mohammed, especially the one by Essad
Bey
...


THE LAST GREAT PROPHET
Reviewed by Thomas Sugrue
“Mohammed was a prophet, but he never performed a miracle
...
When he announced that he was the Messenger of God, bringing word of
the true religion, he was ridiculed and labeled a lunatic
...
He was banished from his native city, Mecca,
and his followers were stripped of their worldly goods and sent into the desert
after him
...
Yet before another ten years had passed,
he was dictator of all Arabia, ruler of Mecca, and the head of a New World religion which was to sweep to the Danube and the Pyrenees before exhausting
the impetus he gave it
...

“His career never made sense
...
Because Mecca, the crossroads of the world,
home of the magic stone called the Caaba, great city of trade and the center of
trade routes, was unsanitary, its children were sent to be raised in the desert by
Bedouins
...
He tended sheep and soon hired out to a rich
widow as leader of her caravans
...
When he was twenty-eight, Khadija, the widow, looked
upon him with favor, and married him
...
For the next twelve years Mohammed lived as a rich and respected and
very shrewd trader
...

“The Koran, the revealed word of God, was the closest thing to a miracle in Mohammed’s life
...
Yet the verses
of the Koran, as he received them and recited them to the faithful, were better
than any verses which the professional poets of the tribes could produce
...
To them the gift of words was the greatest gift, the
poet was all-powerful
...
It was this political heresy, plus Mohammed’s desire to destroy all the 360 idols in the courtyard of the
Caaba, which brought about his banishment
...
So the business men of Mecca, the capitalists,
of which he had been one, set upon Mohammed
...

“The rise of Islam began
...
Mohammed had invited the Jews and Christians to join him; for he
was not building a new religion
...
If the Jews and Christians had accepted his invitation Islam would have conquered the world
...
They would not even accept
Mohammed’s innovation of humane warfare
...
When the
crusaders entered the city, centuries later, not a Moslem man, woman, or child
was spared
...
”

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THINK AND GROW RICH

Chapter 10
POWER OF THE MASTER MIND: THE DRIVING FORCE
—
The Ninth Step toward Riches
POWER is essential for success in the accumulation of money
...
This
chapter will describe the method by which an individual may attain and apply
POWER
...
”
Power, as the term is here used, refers to ORGANIZED effort, sufficient to enable
an individual to transmute DESIRE into its monetary equivalent
...

POWER IS REQUIRED FOR THE ACCUMULATION OF MONEY!
POWER IS NECESSARY FOR THE RETENTION OF MONEY AFTER IT HAS
BEEN ACCUMULATED!
Let us ascertain how power may be acquired
...
INFINITE INTELLIGENCE
...

b
...
The accumulated experience of man, (or
that portion of it which has been organized and recorded), may be found in any
well-equipped public library
...

c
...
In the field of science, and in practically
every other walk of life, men are gathering, classifying, and organizing new facts
daily
...
” Here, too, the Creative Imagination must often be used
...
It may be converted into POWER by organizing it into definite PLANS and by expressing those
plans in terms of ACTION
...
If his plans are comprehensive, and if they contemplate large proportions, he must, generally, induce others to cooperate with him,
before he can inject into them the necessary element of POWER
...
”
No individual may have great power without availing himself of the “Master
Mind
...
If you carry
out these instructions with PERSISTENCE and intelligence, and use discrimination in the selection of your “Master Mind” group, your objective will have been
half-way reached, even before you begin to recognize it
...
The economic feature is obvious
...
This form of cooperative
alliance has been the basis of nearly every great fortune
...

The psychic phase of the Master Mind principle is much more abstract, much
more difficult to comprehend, because it has reference to the spiritual forces with
which the human race, as a whole, is not well acquainted
...
”
Keep in mind the fact that there are only two known elements in the whole universe, energy and matter
...
There are units of matter which
may be isolated, separated, and analyzed
...
The human mind is a form of energy, a part
of it being spiritual in nature
...

The Master Mind principle, or rather the economic feature of it, was first called
to my attention by Andrew Carnegie, over twenty-five years ago
...

Mr
...
He attributed his entire fortune to the POWER he accumulated through this “Master Mind
...

GREAT POWER CAN BE ACCUMULATED THROUGH NO OTHER
PRINCIPLE!
ENERGY is Nature’s universal set of building blocks, out of which she constructs
every material thing in the universe, including man, and every form of animal and
vegetable life
...
Nature’s building blocks are available to man, in
the energy involved in THINKING! Man’s brain may be compared to an electric
battery
...

It is a well known fact that a group of electric batteries will provide more energy
than a single battery
...

The brain functions in a similar fashion
...


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Through this metaphor it becomes immediately obvious that the Master Mind
principle holds the secret of the POWER wielded by men who surround themselves with other men of brains
...

It is a well known fact that Henry Ford began his business career under the handicap of poverty, illiteracy, and ignorance
...
Ford mastered these three
handicaps, and that within twenty-five years he made himself one of the richest men in America
...

Ford’s most rapid strides became noticeable, from the time he became a personal
friend of Thomas A
...
Go a step farther, and consider the
fact that Mr
...

There is little if any doubt that Henry Ford is one of the best informed men in the
business and industrial world
...

Analyze Mr
...
”
Henry Ford whipped poverty, illiteracy, and ignorance by allying himself with
great minds, whose vibrations of thought he absorbed into his own mind
...
Ford added
to his own brain power, the sum and substance of the intelligence, experience,
knowledge, and spiritual forces of these four men
...

This principle is available to you! We have already mentioned Mahatma Gandhi
...

In reality, Gandhi is not eccentric, but HE IS THE MOST POWERFUL MAN NOW
LIVING
...
) Moreover, he is probably the most powerful man who has ever lived
...

Let us study the method by which he attained his stupendous POWER
...
He came by POWER through inducing over two hundred million people to coordinate, with mind and body, in a spirit of HARMONY,
for a DEFINITE PURPOSE
...
If you doubt that this is a miracle, try to induce ANY
TWO PEOPLE to cooperate in a spirit of harmony for any length of time
...

The list of the chief sources from which POWER may be attained is, as you have
seen, headed by INFINITE INTELLIGENCE
...
This is the greatest of all sources of POWER
...
It is the source to which
every great leader turns, (whether he may be conscious of the fact or not)
...
The senses are not always reliable
...

In subsequent chapters, the methods by which Infinite Intelligence may be most
readily contacted will be adequately described
...

No fundamental principle described in this book should be interpreted as being intended to interfere either directly, or indirectly, with any man’s religious
habits
...

Read, THINK, and meditate as you read
...
You are now seeing the detail of the individual
chapters
...
It must be wooed and won
by methods not unlike those used by a determined lover, in pursuit of the girl of
his choice
...
That power, when
successfully used in the pursuit of money must be mixed with FAITH
...
It must be mixed with PERSISTENCE
...

When money comes in quantities known as “the big money,” it flows to the one
who accumulates it, as easily as water flows down hill
...

Every man who has accumulated a great fortune, has recognized the existence of
this stream of life
...
The positive emotions of thought form the side of the stream which carries one to fortune
...
This carries a
thought of stupendous importance to the person who is following this book with
the object of accumulating a fortune
...
It can serve you ONLY through application and use
...

Some people undergo the experience of alternating between the positive and
negative sides of the stream, being at times on the positive side, and at times on
the negative side
...
These millions are struggling, some of
them in desperation and fear, to get back to the positive side of the stream
...

Poverty and riches often change places
...
Poverty may, and generally
does, voluntarily take the place of riches
...
Poverty needs no plan
...
Riches are shy and timid
...
”

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THINK AND GROW RICH

ANYBODY can WISH for riches, and most people do, but only a few know that
a definite plan, plus a BURNING DESIRE for wealth, are the only dependable
means of accumulating wealth
...
”
The emotion of sex brings into being a state of mind
...

The emotion of sex has back of it the possibility of three constructive potentialities, they are:1
...

2
...

3
...

Sex transmutation is simple and easily explained
...

Sex desire is the most powerful of human desires
...
So strong and impelling is the desire
for sexual contact that men freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it
...
, which may be
used as powerful creative forces in literature, art, or in any other profession or
calling, including, of course, the accumulation of riches
...
The desire for sexual expression is inborn and
natural
...
But it
should be given an outlet through forms of expression which enrich the body,

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mind, and spirit of man
...

A river may be dammed, and its water controlled for a time, but eventually, it
will force an outlet
...
It may be submerged
and controlled for a time, but its very nature causes it to be ever seeking means
of expression
...

Fortunate, indeed, is the person who has discovered how to give sex emotion an
outlet through some form of creative effort, for he has, by that discovery, lifted
himself to the status of a genius
...
The men of greatest achievement are men with highly developed sex natures;
men who have learned the art of sex transmutation
...
The men who have accumulated great fortunes and achieved outstanding recognition in literature, art, industry, architecture, and the professions, were motivated by the influence of a woman
...

Wherever there was evidence available in connection with the lives of men and
women of great achievement, it indicated most convincingly that they possessed
highly developed sex natures
...
” When driven by this emotion, men become
gifted with a super power for action
...

The emotion of sex contains the secret of creative ability
...
For
proof of this, observe what happens to any animal after it has been castrated
...
Sex alteration
takes out of the male, whether man or beast, all the FIGHT that was in him
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

THE TEN MIND STIMULI
The human mind responds to stimuli, through which it may be “keyed up” to high
rates of vibration, known as enthusiasm, creative imagination, intense desire, etc
...
The desire for sex expression
2
...
A burning desire for fame, power, or financial gain, MONEY
4
...
Friendship between either those of the same sex, or those of the opposite sex
...
A Master Mind alliance based upon the harmony of two or more people who
ally themselves for spiritual or temporal advancement
...
Mutual suffering, such as that experienced by people who are persecuted
...
Auto-suggestion
9
...
Narcotics and alcohol
...
Eight of these stimuli are natural and constructive
...

The list is here presented for the purpose of enabling you to make a comparative
study of the major sources of mind stimulation
...

This comparison is necessary as a foundation for proof of the statement that transmutation of sex energy may lift one to the status of a genius
...
Some wiseacre has said that a genius is a man who “wears
long hair, eats queer food, lives alone, and serves as a target for the joke makers
...
”

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THINK AND GROW RICH

The person who thinks will want to ask some questions concerning this definition
of genius
...


“GENIUS” IS DEVELOPED THROUGH THE SIXTH SENSE
The reality of a “sixth sense” has been fairly well established
...
” The faculty of creative imagination is one which the
majority of people never use during an entire lifetime, and if used at all, it usually happens by mere accident
...
Those who use this faculty voluntarily, and with understanding of its
functions, are GENII
...
All so-called revelations, referred to in the realm
of religion, and all discoveries of basic or new principles in the field of invention,
take place through the faculty of creative imagination
...
Infinite Intelligence
2
...
From the mind of some other person who has just released the thought, or
picture of the idea or concept, through conscious thought, or

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4
...
There are no other KNOWN
sources from which “inspired” ideas or “hunches” may be received
...
That is, when the mind is
functioning at a rate of vibration higher than that of ordinary, normal thought
...

When lifted to this higher level of thought, through any form of mind stimulation,
an individual occupies, relatively, the same position as one who has ascended in
an airplane to a height from which he may see over and beyond the horizon line
which limits his vision, while on the ground
...
He is in a world of thought
in which the ORDINARY, work-a-day thoughts have been as effectively removed
as are the hills and valleys and other limitations of physical vision, when he rises
in an airplane
...
The way has been cleared for the sixth sense to function, it becomes receptive to ideas which could not reach the individual under any
other circumstances
...

The creative faculty becomes more alert and receptive to vibrations, originating
outside the individual’s subconscious mind, the more this faculty is used, and the
more the individual relies upon it, and makes demands upon it for thought impulses
...

That which is known as ones `conscience operates entirely through the faculty
of the sixth sense
...
It is a fact well known
to people who have “keen” imaginations that their best ideas come through socalled “hunches
...
When asked
why he closed his eyes just before the climaxes of his oratory, he replied, “I do it,
because, then I speak through ideas which come to me from within
...

When asked why he did this, he replied, “With my eyes closed, I am able to draw
upon a source of superior intelligence
...
Elmer R
...
His method is both significant and interesting to one interested in attaining to the status of genius, in which category Dr
...
Dr
...

In his laboratory, he had what he called his “personal communication room
...
It
was equipped with a small table, on which he kept a pad of writing paper
...

When Dr
...

On one occasion, ideas came through so fast that he was forced to write for almost
three hours
...

Moreover, the answer to his problem was intelligently presented in those notes
...
Gates completed over 200 patents, which had been begun, but
not completed, by “half-baked” brains
...

Dr
...

Some of the largest corporations in America paid him substantial fees, by the
hour, for “sitting for ideas
...
Not all knowledge, which one accumulates through “experience,” is accurate
...

The major difference between the genius and the ordinary “crank” inventor, may
be found in the fact that the genius works through his faculty of creative imagination, while the “crank” knows nothing of this faculty
...
Edison, and Dr
...

For example, the scientific inventor, or “genius, begins an invention by organizing
and combining the known ideas, or principles accumulated through experience,
through the synthetic faculty (the reasoning faculty)
...
The
method by which he does this varies with the individual, but this is the sum and
substance of his procedure:
1
...

2
...
He holds this picture in mind until it has been taken over
by the subconscious mind, then relaxes by clearing his mind of ALL thought, and
waits for his answer to “flash” into his mind
...
At other times, the results are negative, depending upon the state of development of the “sixth sense,”
or creative faculty
...
Edison tried out more than 10,000 different combinations of ideas through the synthetic faculty of his imagination before he “tuned
in” through the creative faculty, and got the answer which perfected the incandescent light
...

There is plenty of reliable evidence that the faculty of creative imagination exists
...
Lincoln was a notable example of a great leader who achieved greatness, through
the discovery, and use of his faculty of creative imagination
...

The pages of history are filled with the records of great leaders whose achievements may be traced directly to the influence of women who aroused the creative
faculties of their minds, through the stimulation of sex desire
...

When inspired by his first wife, Josephine, he was irresistible and invincible
...
His defeat and St
...

If good taste would permit, we might easily mention scores of men, well known
to the American people, who climbed to great heights of achievement under the
stimulating influence of their wives, only to drop back to destruction AFTER
money and power went to their heads, and they put aside the old wife for a new
one
...

The human mind responds to stimulation! Among the greatest, and most powerful of these stimuli is the urge of sex
...

Unfortunately, only the genii have made the discovery
...

For the purpose of refreshing the memory, in connection with the facts available
from the biographies of certain men, we here present the names of a few men
of outstanding achievement, each of whom was known to have been of a highly
sexed nature
...
GARY
OSCAR WILDE
WOODROW WILSON
JOHN H
...
Find, if you
can, a single man, in all history of civilization, who achieved outstanding success
in any calling, who was not driven by a well developed sex nature
...
Sex energy is the creative energy of all
genii
...

Surely no one will misunderstand these statements to mean that ALL who are
highly sexed are genii! Man attains to the status of a genius ONLY when, and IF,
he stimulates his mind so that it draws upon the forces available, through the
creative faculty of the imagination
...
The mere possession of
this energy is not sufficient to produce a genius
...

Far from becoming genii, because of great sex desires, the majority of men lower
themselves, through misunderstanding and misuse of this great force, to the status of the lower animals
...
This fact was
so astounding that it prompted me to go into the study of its cause most carefully,
carrying the investigation over a period of more than twelve years
...
The majority of men never learn that the urge of sex has other
possibilities, which far transcend in importance, that of mere physical expression
...
This usually is followed by noteworthy achievement
...
Their finer and more powerful emotions are sown wildly
to the four winds
...
”
The desire for sexual expression is by far the strongest and most impelling of all
the human emotions, and for this very reason this desire, when harnessed and
transmuted into action, other than that of physical expression, may raise one to
the status of a genius
...
He admitted that her
presence lifted him to heights of creative imagination, such as he could experience under no other stimulus
...

Everyone knows the man to whom this reference is made, but not everyone knows
the REAL SOURCE of his achievements
...
Edgar Allen Poe wrote the “Raven” while under the influence of liquor,
“dreaming dreams that mortal never dared to dream before
...
Perhaps it was thus
he saw “the ordered intermingling of the real and the dream, the mill above the
river, and the mist above the stream
...
” But let it be remembered that many such men have destroyed themselves
in the end
...

It is a fact well known to psychologists that there is a very close relationship between sex desires and spiritual urges-a fact which accounts for the peculiar behavior of people who participate in the orgies known as religious “revivals,” common among the primitive types
...
People are influenced in their actions, not by reason so much as by
“feelings
...
The most powerful of all human emotions is that of sex
...

A mind stimulant is any influence which will either temporarily, or permanently,
increase the vibrations of thought
...

Through these sources one may commune with Infinite Intelligence, or enter, at
will, the storehouse of the subconscious mind, either one’s own, or that of another
person, a procedure which is all there is of genius
...
The explanation is, that the factor of personality known as “personal
magnetism” is nothing more nor less than sex energy
...
Through cultivation and understanding,
this vital force may be drawn upon and used to great advantage in the relationships between people
...
The hand-shake
...

2
...
Magnetism, or sex energy, is the factor with which the voice
may be colored, or made musical and charming
...
Posture and carriage of the body
...

4
...
Highly sexed people mix the emotion of sex with
their thoughts, or may do so at will, and in that way, may influence those around
them
...
Body adornment
...
They usually select clothing of a style becoming to
their personality, physique, complexion, etc
...
People who lack
sex energy will never become enthusiastic nor inspire others with enthusiasm,
and enthusiasm is one of the most important requisites in salesmanship, no matter what one is selling
...
Couple
with this the fact, that most people can be influenced only through an appeal to
their emotions, and you will understand the importance of sex energy as a part of
the salesman’s native ability
...

The salesman who knows how to take his mind off the subject of sex, and direct it
in sales effort with as much enthusiasm and determination as he would apply to
its original purpose, has acquired the art of sex transmutation, whether he knows
it or not
...

Transmutation of sex energy calls for more will power than the average person
cares to use for this purpose
...
Though this requires will-power, the reward for the practice is more than worth the effort
...
The urge of sex has been grossly misunderstood, slandered,
and burlesqued by the ignorant and the evil minded, for so long that the very
word sex is seldom used in polite society
...
Instead of being called blessed, they are usually called cursed
...
These statements, of the virtue of sex energy, should not be construed as
justification for the libertine
...
It may be misused, and often is, to such an
extent that it debases, instead of enriches, both body and mind
...

It seemed quite significant to the author, when he made the discovery that practically every great leader, whom he had the privilege of analyzing, was a man whose
achievements were largely inspired by a woman
...
In a few instances, the source of inspiration has been traced to
the “other woman
...

Intemperance in sex habits is just as detrimental as intemperance in habits of
drinking and eating
...
This orgy of indulgence may
account for the shortage of great leaders
...
Man is the only creature on
earth which violates Nature’s purpose in this connection
...
Every other animal responds to the call of sex only in “season
...
”
Every intelligent person knows that stimulation in excess, through alcoholic
drink and narcotics, is a form of intemperance which destroys the vital organs of
the body, including the brain
...


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A sex-mad man is not essentially different than a dope-mad man! Both have lost
control over their faculties of reason and will-power
...
Many cases of hypochondria (imaginary illness) grow out
of habits developed in ignorance of the true function of sex
...

Widespread ignorance on the subject of sex is due to the fact that the subject has
been surrounded with mystery and beclouded by dark silence
...
The result has been increased curiosity, and
desire to acquire more knowledge on this “verboten” subject; and to the shame of
all lawmakers, and most physicians-by training best qualified to educate youth on
that subject-information has not been easily available
...
The average man reaches the period of his greatest capacity to create between forty and sixty
...
They
should be encouraging to those who fail to arrive before the age of forty, and
to those who become frightened at the approach of “old age,” around the fortyyear mark
...
Man
should approach this age, not with fear and trembling, but with hope and eager
anticipation
...

Henry Ford had not “hit his pace” of achievement until he had passed the age of
forty
...

James J
...
His stupendous
achievements took place after that age
...
Between the ages of thirty and forty, man begins to
learn (if he ever learns), the art of sex transmutation
...
He may observe that his powers of achievement have
increased around the age of thirty-five to forty, but in most cases, he is not familiar with the cause of this change; that Nature begins to harmonize the emotions of
love and sex in the individual, between the ages of thirty and forty, so that he may
draw upon these great forces, and apply them jointly as stimuli to action
...
When the emotion of love begins to mix itself with the emotion of sex, the result is calmness of purpose, poise, accuracy of judgment, and
balance
...
When driven by his desire
to please a woman, based upon the motive of sex alone, a man may steal, cheat,
and even commit murder
...

Criminologists have discovered that the most hardened criminals can be reformed
through the influence of a woman’s love
...
These facts are well known, but
their cause is not
...

Reformation means, “a change of heart
...
”
A man may, because of reason, make certain changes in his personal conduct
to avoid the consequences of undesirable effects, but GENUINE REFORMATION comes only through a change of heart-through a DESIRE to change
...
Love is the emotion which serves as a safety valve, and insures balance, poise, and constructive effort
...
There are genii, however, who know but little
of the emotion of love
...
If good taste would permit, a dozen genii could be named in the field of
industry and finance, who ride ruthlessly over the rights of their fellow men
...
The reader can easily supply his own list of
such men
...
Nature has provided man with a “chemistry
of the mind” which operates in a manner similar to the principles of chemistry
of matter
...
The emotions may, likewise,
be combined so as to create a deadly poison
...

The presence of any one or more of the destructive emotions in the human mind,
through the chemistry of the mind, sets up a poison which may destroy one’s
sense of justice and fairness
...

The road to genius consists of the development, control, and use of sex, love, and
romance
...
The mind is
a creature of habit
...
Through the
faculty of will-power, one may discourage the presence of any emotion, and encourage the presence of any other
...
Control comes from persistence, and habit
...
When any negative emotion
presents itself in one’s mind, it can be transmuted into a positive, or constructive
emotion, by the simple procedure of changing one’s thoughts
...
This is worthy of analysis, thought, and
meditation, for it states a truth, the knowledge of which may be helpful to women
as well as men
...

The emotions of love and sex leave their unmistakable marks upon the features
...
The man
who is driven by the storm of passion, based upon sex desires alone, plainly advertises that fact to the entire world, by the expression of his eyes, and the lines of
his face
...
No character analyst is needed to tell you
this- you may observe it for yourself
...
It leaves its impress upon one’s very soul, even after the fire has been
subdued by time and circumstance
...
They linger, guide, and influence long after the
source of stimulation has faded
...
Every person, who
has been moved by GENUINE LOVE, knows that it leaves enduring traces upon
the human heart
...

The man who cannot be stimulated to great heights of achievement by love, is
hopeless-he is dead, though he may seem to live
...
The major force of love may spend itself and pass away, like a fire which has
burned itself out, but it leaves behind indelible marks as evidence that it passed
that way
...
Go
back into your yesterdays, at times, and bathe your mind in the beautiful memories of past love
...
It will give you a source of escape from the unpleasant realities of life, and
maybe-who knows?-your mind will yield to you, during this temporary retreat
into the world of fantasy, ideas, or plans which may change the entire financial or
spiritual status of your life
...
One who has loved truly, can never lose entirely
...
Its nature is ephemeral, and transitory
...
Accept and enjoy it while it remains, but spend
no time worrying about its departure
...

Dismiss, also, the thought that love never comes but once
...
There may be, and there usually is, one love experience which
leaves a deeper imprint on the heart than all the others, but all love experiences
are beneficial, except to the person who becomes resentful and cynical when love
makes its departure
...
The major
difference is that love is spiritual, while sex is biological
...

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Love is, without question, life’s greatest experience
...
When mixed with the emotions of romance and sex,
it may lead one far up the ladder of creative effort
...
Nature
creates genii through no other force
...
The love which one feels
for parents, or children is quite different from that which one feels for one’s sweetheart
...

The love which one feels in true friendship is not the same as that felt for one’s
sweetheart, parents, or children, but it, too, is a form of love
...
But the most intense and burning of all these various kinds of love,
is that experienced in the blending of the emotions of love and sex
...
Love, alone, will not bring
happiness in marriage, nor will sex alone
...

When the emotion of romance is added to those of love and sex, the obstructions
between the finite mind of man and Infinite Intelligence are removed
...
Here is an interpretation of the emotion which
lifts it out of the commonplace, and makes of it potter’s clay in the hands of God,
from which He fashions all that is beautiful and inspiring
...
The disharmonies often expressed in the form of
nagging, may usually be traced to lack of knowledge on the subject of sex
...

Fortunate is the husband whose wife understands the true relationship between
the emotions of love, sex, and romance
...


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It is a very old saying that “a man’s wife may either make him or break him,” but
the reason is not always understood
...
Despite the fact that men are polygamous, by the very nature of
their biological inheritance, it is true that no woman has as great an influence on a
man as his wife, unless he is married to a woman totally unsuited to his nature
...
This statement presupposes, of course, that
genuine love once existed between a man and his wife
...
Married people often bicker over a multitude of trivialities
...
Man’s greatest motivating force is his
desire to please woman! The hunter who excelled during prehistoric days, before
the dawn of civilization, did so, because of his desire to appear great in the eyes
of woman
...
The “hunter” of today
brings home no skins of wild animals, but he indicates his desire for her favor
by supplying fine clothes, motor cars, and wealth
...
The only thing that
has changed, is his method of pleasing
...

Take women out of their lives, and great wealth would be useless to most men
...

The woman who understands man’s nature and tactfully caters to it, need have
no fear of competition from other women
...

Most men will not admit that they are easily influenced by the women they prefer,
because it is in the nature of the male to want to be recognized as the stronger of
the species
...
Some men know that they are being influenced
by the women of their choice-their wives, sweethearts, mothers or sisters-but
they tactfully refrain from rebelling against the influence because they are intelligent enough to know that NO MAN IS HAPPY OR COMPLETE WITHOUT
THE MODIFYING INFLUENCE OF THE RIGHT WOMAN
...


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Chapter 12
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND: THE CONNECTING LINK
—
The Eleventh Step toward Riches
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND consists of a field of consciousness, in which every
impulse of thought that reaches the objective mind through any of the five senses,
is classified and recorded, and from which thoughts may be recalled or withdrawn
as letters may be taken from a filing cabinet
...

You may VOLUNTARILY plant in your subconscious mind any plan, thought, or
purpose which you desire to translate into its physical or monetary equivalent
...

Consider this in connection with the instructions given in the chapter on DESIRE,
for taking the six steps there outlined, and the instructions given in the chapter
on the building and execution of plans, and you will understand the importance
of the thought conveyed
...

Through a method of procedure, unknown to man, the subconscious mind draws
upon the forces of Infinite Intelligence for the power with which it voluntarily
transmutes one’s desires into their physical equivalent, making use, always of the
most practical media by which this end may be accomplished
...
Read, again, instructions for using the subconscious mind, in the
chapter on autosuggestion
...
It is the
intermediary through which one may draw upon the forces of Infinite Intelligence
at will
...
It, alone, is the medium through

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which prayer may be transmitted to the source capable of answering prayer
...
They inspire one with awe
...
The very fact that the subconscious
mind is the medium of communication between the thinking mind of man and
Infinite Intelligence is, of itself, a thought which almost paralyzes one’s reason
...
You will also understand why
you have been repeatedly admonished to MAKE YOUR DESIRES CLEAR, AND
TO REDUCE THEM TO WRITING
...

The thirteen principles are the stimuli with which you acquire the ability to reach,
and to influence your subconscious mind
...
Remember that the subconscious mind may be
voluntarily directed only through habit, under the directions given in the chapter
on FAITH
...
Be patient
...

A good many statements in the chapters on faith and auto-suggestion will be repeated here, for the benefit of YOUR subconscious mind
...
This, naturally, suggests to you that thoughts of fear and poverty, and all
negative thoughts serve as stimuli to your subconscious mind, unless, you master
these impulses and give it more desirable food upon which it may feed
...
We have already explained that thought impulses, both negative and
positive are reaching the subconscious mind continuously, from the four sources
which were mentioned in the chapter on Sex Transmutation
...
Some of these impulses are negative, some are
positive
...

When you achieve this, you will possess the key which unlocks the door to your
subconscious mind
...

Everything which man creates, BEGINS in the form of a thought impulse
...
Through the
aid of the imagination, thought impulses may be assembled into plans
...

All thought impulses, intended for transmutation into their physical equivalent,
voluntarily planted in the subconscious mind, must pass through the imagination, and be mixed with faith
...

From these statements, you will readily observe that voluntary use of the subconscious mind calls for coordination and application of all the principles
...

They follow the law of the universeEach thing creates its kind,
And they speed O’er the track to bring you back
Whatever went out from your mind
...
Wilcox understood the truth, that thoughts which go out from one’s mind,
also imbed themselves deeply in one’s subconscious mind, where they serve as a
magnet, pattern, or blueprint by which the subconscious mind is influenced while
translating them into their physical equivalent
...


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The subconscious mind is more susceptible to influence by impulses of thought
mixed with “feeling” or emotion, than by those originating solely in the reasoning portion of the mind
...

It is a well known fact that emotion or feeling, rules the majority of people
...
There are seven
major positive emotions, and seven major negative emotions
...
The positives must be injected, through the principle of
auto-suggestion, into the thought impulses which an individual wishes to pass on
to his subconscious mind
...
)
These emotions, or feeling impulses, may be likened to yeast in a loaf of bread,
because they constitute the ACTION element, which transforms thought impulses from the passive to the active state
...
”
You are preparing yourself to influence and control the “inner audience” of your
subconscious mind, in order to hand over to it the DESIRE for money, which you
wish transmuted into its monetary equivalent
...
” You must speak its
language, or it will not heed your call
...
Let us, therefore describe here the seven major positive emotions,
and the seven major negative emotions, so that you may draw upon the positives,
and avoid the negatives, when giving instructions to your subconscious mind
...
Master these seven emotions
(they can be mastered only by USE), and the other positive emotions will be at
your command when you need them
...
One does not become money conscious by filling one’s mind with negative emotions
...
One or
the other must dominate
...
Here the law of HABIT
will come to your aid
...

Only by following these instructions literally, and continuously, can you gain
control over your subconscious mind
...

If you are an observing person, you must have noticed that most people resort
to prayer ONLY after everything else has FAILED! Or else they pray by a ritual
of meaningless words
...

Likewise, that is the emotion which Infinite Intelligence receives, and ACTS
UPON
...

Prayer does, sometimes, result in the realization of that for which one prays
...

The time will come when the schools and educational institutions of the country will teach the “science of prayer
...
When that time comes, (it will come as soon as mankind
is ready for it, and demands it), no one will approach the Universal Mind in a
state of fear, for the very good reason that there will be no such emotion as fear
...
A few have already
attained this blessing
...
Less than a hundred years ago, men believed the lightning to be
evidence of the wrath of God, and feared it
...
Much
less than a hundred years ago, men believed the space between the planets to be
nothing but a great void, a stretch of dead nothingness
...
Moreover, men know
that this living, pulsating, vibratory energy which permeates every atom of matter, and fills every niche of space, connects every human brain with every other
human brain
...
The communication costs nothing except
Patience, Faith, Persistence, Understanding, and a SINCERE DESIRE to communicate
...
Paid
prayers are worthless
...
You either
go direct, or you do not communicate
...
Thoughts which you wish to communicate to Infinite Intelligence, must un-

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dergo transformation, such as can be given only through your own subconscious
mind
...
If you understand the working principle of radio, you of course, know that
sound cannot be communicated through the ether until it has been “stepped up,”
or changed into a rate of vibration which the human ear cannot detect
...
Only in this
way, can the vibration of sound be communicated through the ether
...

The subconscious mind is the intermediary, which translates one’s prayers into
terms which Infinite Intelligence can recognize, presents the message, and brings
back the answer in the form of a definite plan or idea for procuring the object of
the prayer
...

Before your prayer will reach Infinite Intelligence (a statement of the author’s
theory only), it probably is transformed from its original thought vibration into
terms of spiritual vibration
...
FAITH and FEAR make poor bedfellows
...


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Chapter 13
THE BRAIN: A BROADCASTING AND RECEIVING STATION FOR
THOUGHT
—
The Twelfth Step toward Riches
MORE than twenty years ago, the author, working in conjunction with the late
Dr
...
Elmer R
...

Through the medium of the ether, in a fashion similar to that employed by the radio broadcasting principle, every human brain is capable of picking up vibrations
of thought which are being released by other brains
...
The Creative Imagination is the “receiving set” of the brain, which
receives thoughts, released by the brains of others
...

When stimulated, or “stepped up” to a high rate of vibration, the mind becomes
more receptive to the vibration of thought which reaches it through the ether
from outside sources
...
Through the emotions, the vibrations of
thought may be increased
...
Thought is energy travelling at an
exceedingly high rate of vibration
...

The emotion of sex stands at the head of the list of human emotions, as far as
intensity and driving force are concerned
...


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The result of sex transmutation, is the increase of the rate of vibration of thoughts
to such a pitch that the Creative Imagination becomes highly receptive to ideas,
which it picks up from the ether
...

Thus, you will see that the broadcasting principle is the factor through which you
mix feeling, or emotion with your thoughts and pass them on to your subconscious mind
...
The Creative Imagination is the “receiving set,”
through which the vibrations of thought are picked up from the ether
...

Through the instructions described in the chapter on auto-suggestion, you were
definitely informed of the method by which DESIRE may be transmuted into its
monetary equivalent
...
You have but three principles to bear in mind, and to apply, when you
wish to use your broadcasting station-the SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, CREATIVE
IMAGINATION, and AUTO-SUGGESTION
...


THE GREATEST FORCES ARE “INTANGIBLE”
The depression brought the world to the very border-line of understanding of
the forces which are intangible and unseen
...


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We are now entering the most marvelous of all ages-an age which will teach us
something of the intangible forces of the world about us
...

Sometimes men speak lightly of the intangibles- the things which they cannot
perceive through any of their five senses, and when we hear them, it should remind us that all of us are controlled by forces which are unseen and intangible
...
Man has not the capacity
to understand the intangible force of gravity, which keeps this little earth suspended in mid-air, and keeps man from falling from it, much less the power to
control that force
...
He does not understand the intangible force (and intelligence) wrapped up in the soil of the earth-the force which provides him with
every morsel of food he eats, every article of clothing he wears, every dollar he
carries in his pockets
...
He knows but little concerning the physical brain, and its vast network of intricate machinery through which the power of thought is translated into
its material equivalent, but he is now entering an age which shall yield enlightenment on the subject
...

“The figure is so stupendous,” said Dr
...
Judson Herrick, of the University of
Chicago, “that astronomical figures dealing with hundreds of millions of light
years, become insignificant by comparison
...
These arrangements are not haphazard
...

Recently developed methods of electro-physiology draw off action currents from
very precisely located cells, or fibers with micro-electrodes, amplify them with
radio tubes, and record potential differences to a millionth of a volt
...
Is it not likely that the same system, which gives billions of brain cells the media for communication one with another, provides, also the means of communication with other intangible forces?
After this book had been written, just before the manuscript went to the publisher, there appeared in the New York Times, an editorial showing that at least one
great University, and one intelligent investigator in the field of mental phenomena, are carrying on an organized research through which conclusions have been
reached that parallel many of those described in this and the following chapter
...
Rhine, and his associates
at Duke University, viz:- “What is `Telepathy’?
“A month ago we cited on this page some of the remarkable results achieved
by Professor Rhine and his associates in Duke University from more than a hundred thousand tests to determine the existence of `telepathy’ and `clairvoyance
...
In
the second which has now appeared, the author, E
...
Wright, attempts to summarize what has been learned, or what it seems reasonable to infer, regarding the
exact nature of these `extrasensory’ modes of perception
...
Various percipients
were asked to name as many cards in a special pack as they could without looking at them and without other sensory access to them
...
’
“But how did they do them? These powers, assuming that they exist, do not seem
to be sensory
...
The experiments worked just
as well at distances of several hundred miles as they did in the same room
...
Wright’s opinion, of the attempt to explain telepathy or

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clairvoyance through any physical theory of radiation
...
Telepathy and
clairvoyance do not
...

Contrary to widespread opinion, they do not improve when the percipient is
asleep or half-asleep, but, on the contrary, when he is most wide-awake and alert
...
The most reliable performer apparently cannot make a good score unless he tries to do his best
...
That is, the faculty that `sees’ a card
face down on a table seems to be exactly the same one that `reads’ a thought residing only in another mind
...
So far,
for example, the two gifts have been found in every person who enjoys either of
them
...
Screens,
walls, distances, have no effect at all on either
...
The reader is not asked to
accept any of these conclusions unless he finds it necessary, but the evidence that
Rhine has piled up must remain impressive
...
Rhine’s announcement in connection with the conditions under
which the mind responds to what he terms “extra-sensory modes of perception,
I now feel privileged to add to his testimony by stating that my associates and I
have discovered what we believe to be the ideal conditions under which the mind
can be stimulated so that the sixth sense described in the next chapter, can be
made to function in a practical way
...
Through experimentation and practice, we have
discovered how to stimulate our minds (by applying the principle used in connection with the “Invisible Counselors” described in the next chapter) so that we
can, by a process of blending our three minds into one, find the solution to a great
variety of personal problems which are submitted by my clients
...
We sit down at a conference table, clearly state
the nature of the problem we have under consideration, then begin discussing it
...
The strange thing about this
method of mind stimulation is that it places each participant in communication
with unknown sources of knowledge definitely outside his own experience
...
This method of mind stimulation, through
harmonious discussion of definite subjects, between three people, illustrates the
simplest and most practical use of the Master Mind
...
If it means nothing to you at this time, mark this page and read it again after
you have finished the last chapter
...
It reduced the whole world to a new
starting point that gives every one a new opportunity
...

This principle is the apex of the philosophy
...

The SIXTH SENSE is that portion of the subconscious mind which has been referred to as the Creative Imagination
...
The “flashes”
are sometimes called “hunches” or “inspirations
...
Understanding of the sixth sense comes only by meditation through mind development from within
...
It is believed to be the point at which the mind
of man contacts the Universal Mind
...

There comes to your aid, and to do your bidding, with the development of the
sixth sense, a “guardian angel” who will open to you at all times the door to the
Temple of Wisdom
...

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The author is not a believer in, nor an advocate of “miracles,” for the reason that
he has enough knowledge of Nature to understand that Nature never deviates
from her established laws
...
” The sixth sense comes as near to being a miracle as anything I have
ever experienced, and it appears so, only because I do not understand the method
by which this principle is operated
...
This Intelligence may, through the principles of this
philosophy, be induced to aid in transmuting DESIRES into concrete, or material
form
...

Step by step, through the preceding chapters, you have been led to this, the last
principle
...

If you have not mastered the other principles, you must do so before you may
determine, definitely, whether or not the claims made in this chapter are fact or
fiction
...
Moreover, I discovered that the element of
FAITH, with which I endeavored to imitate my idols, gave me great capacity to do
so quite successfully
...
My experience has taught me
that the next best thing to being truly great, is to emulate the great, by feeling and
action, as nearly as possible
...
These nine men were, Emerson, Paine, Edison, Darwin, Lincoln, Burbank,
Napoleon, Ford, and Carnegie
...
”
The procedure was this
...
Here I had not only an opportunity to sit among those whom I considered
to be great, but I actually dominated the group, by serving as the Chairman
...
My purpose was to rebuild my own character so it would represent a composite of the characters of my imaginary counselors
...


BUILDING CHARACTER THROUGH AUTO-SUGGESTION
Being an earnest student of psychology, I knew, of course, that all men have
become what they are, because of their DOMINATING THOUGHTS AND DESIRES
...
I
knew that self-suggestion is a powerful factor in building character, that it is, in
fact, the sole principle through which character is builded
...
In these imaginary Council meetings I called on my Cabinet members for the knowledge I wished each to
contribute, addressing myself to each member in audible words, as follows:
“Mr
...
I ask that you make an impress upon my
subconscious mind, of whatever qualities you possessed, which enabled you to
understand and adapt yourself to the laws of Nature
...

“Mr
...


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Give me access to the knowledge which enabled you to make two blades of grass
grow where but one grew before, and helped you to blend the coloring of the
flowers with more splendor and harmony, for you, alone, have successfully
gilded the lily
...
Also to acquire the spirit of enduring FAITH, which enabled you
to turn defeat into victory, and to surmount staggering obstacles
...
Paine, I desire to acquire from you the freedom of thought and the courage
and clarity with which to express convictions, which so distinguished you!
“Mr
...

“Mr
...

“Mr
...
I wish to acquire a thorough
understanding of the principles of organized effort, which you used so effectively in the building of a great industrial enterprise
...
Ford, you have been among the most helpful of the men who have supplied
much of the material essential to my work
...

“Mr
...
I wish to acquire from you the marvelous spirit of FAITH, with
which you have uncovered so many of Nature’s secrets, the spirit of unremitting
toil with which you have so often wrested victory from defeat
...
I studied the records of their lives with painstaking care
...

Each of these nine men developed individual characteristics, which surprised
me
...
When he came, he walked very slowly, with his hands
clasped behind him, and once in a while, he would stop as he passed, and rest his
hand, momentarily, upon my shoulder
...
Rarely did I see him smile
...

That was not true of the others
...
One night
Paine suggested that I prepare a lecture on “The Age of Reason,” and deliver it
from the pulpit of a church which I formerly attended
...
Not Napoleon! He drew his mouth down at the
corners and groaned so loudly that all turned and looked at him with amazement
...

On one occasion Burbank was late
...
Paine
chided him by reminding him that it was an apple which started all the trouble
between man and woman
...
Emerson observed-”No serpents,
no apples,” and Napoleon remarked, “No apples, no state!”
Lincoln developed the habit of always being the last one to leave the table after
each meeting
...
I made no attempt to
disturb him
...
But remember, when difficulties overtake you, the common people have
common sense
...
”
One evening Edison arrived ahead of all the others
...
When the time comes, you will
observe that life consists of great swarms of energy, or entities, each as intelligent

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as human beings think themselves to be
...

These units have differences of opinion, the same as human beings, and often
fight among themselves
...
They will bring to your rescue some of the same units of life which
served the members of your Cabinet, during their lives
...

THEY NEVER DIE! Your own thoughts and DESIRES serve as the magnet which
attracts units of life, from the great ocean of life out there
...
”
The other members of the Cabinet began to enter the room
...
Edison was still living when this happened
...
He smiled broadly, and said, “Your dream was more a reality than you may
imagine it to have been
...

These meetings became so realistic that I became fearful of their consequences,
and discontinued them for several months
...

Some six months after I had discontinued the practice I was awakened one night,
or thought I was, when I saw Lincoln standing at my bedside
...
It is about to undergo a period of chaos which will
cause men and women to lose faith, and become panic stricken
...
That is your mission in life
...
”
I was unable to tell, the following morning, whether I had dreamed this, or had
actually been awake, and I have never since found out which it was, but I do know
that the dream, if it were a dream, was so vivid in my mind the next day that I
resumed my meetings the following night
...
”

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After that, I began to add new members to my Cabinet, until now it consists of
more than fifty, among them Christ, St
...

This is the first time that I have had the courage to mention this
...
I have been emboldened now to reduce my experience to the
printed page, because I am now less concerned about what “they say” than I was
in the years that have passed
...

Lest I be misunderstood, I wish here to state most emphatically, that I still regard
my Cabinet meetings as being purely imaginary, but I feel entitled to suggest that,
while the members of my Cabinet may be purely fictional, and the meetings existent only in my own imagination, they have led me into glorious paths of adventure, rekindled an appreciation of true greatness, encouraged creative endeavor,
and emboldened the expression of honest thought
...
” So far, science has not discovered where this organ of the sixth sense is located, but this is not important
...
Such knowledge, generally, is received when the
mind is under the influence of extraordinary stimulation
...
Anyone who has experienced a near accident while driving, knows that on such occasions, the sixth
sense often comes to one’s rescue, and aids, by split seconds, in avoiding the accident
...
I can truthfully say that I owe entirely to my “Invisible Counselors”
full credit for such ideas, facts, or knowledge as I received through “inspiration
...
”
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My original purpose in conducting Council meetings with imaginary beings, was
solely that of impressing my own subconscious mind, through the principle of
auto-suggestion, with certain characteristics which I desired to acquire
...

I now go to my imaginary counselors with every difficult problem which confronts
me and my clients
...

You, of course, have recognized that this chapter covers a subject with which a
majority of people are not familiar
...

Henry Ford, undoubtedly understands and makes practical use of the sixth sense
...
The late Thomas A
...

Nearly all great leaders, such as Napoleon, Bismark, Joan of Arc, Christ, Buddha, Confucius, and Mohammed, understood, and probably made use of the sixth
sense almost continuously
...

The sixth sense is not something that one can take off and put on at will
...
Seldom does any individual come into workable knowledge
of the sixth sense before the age of forty
...

No matter who you are, or what may have been your purpose in reading this book,
you can profit by it without understanding the principle described in this chapter
...


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The chapter on the sixth sense was included, because the book is designed for the
purpose of presenting a complete philosophy by which individuals may unerringly guide themselves in attaining whatever they ask of life
...
The finishing point is that brand of KNOWLEDGE
which leads to understanding-understanding of self, understanding of others,
understanding of the laws of Nature, recognition and understanding of HAPPINESS
...

Having read the chapter, you must have observed that while reading it, you were
lifted to a high level of mental stimulation
...
Repeat this experience from time to time, giving
no concern as to how much or how little you learn at the time, and eventually
you will find yourself in possession of a power that will enable you to throw off
discouragement, master fear, overcome procrastination, and draw freely upon
your imagination
...
Then you will be in position to transmute your DESIRES
into their physical or financial counterpart as easily as you may lie down and quit
at the first sign of opposition
...
FEAR!
Previous chapters have described how to develop FAITH, through Auto-suggestion, Desire and the Subconscious
...

Here will be found a full description of the six fears which are the cause of all discouragement, timidity, procrastination, indifference, indecision, and the lack of
ambition, self-reliance, initiative, self-control, and enthusiasm
...

Remember, too, as you analyze the “Six Ghosts of Fear,” that they are nothing but
ghosts because they exist only in one’s mind
...

The Ghost of the Fear of Poverty, which seized the minds of millions of people in
1929, was so real that it caused the worst business depression this country has
ever known
...


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Chapter 15
HOW TO OUTWIT THE SIX GHOSTS OF FEAR
—
Take Inventory of Yourself, As You Read This Closing Chapter, and Find Out How
Many of the “Ghosts” Are Standing in Your Way BEFORE you can put any portion
of this philosophy into successful use, your mind must be prepared to receive it
...
It begins with study, analysis, and understanding
of three enemies which you shall have to clear out
...
The members of this unholy trio are closely related; where
one is found, the other two are close at hand
...
Indecision
crystalizes into DOUBT, the two blend and become FEAR! The “blending” process often is slow
...

They germinate and grow without their presence being observed
...
It also analyzes a condition
which has, but lately, reduced huge numbers of people to poverty, and it states a
truth which must be understood by all who accumulate riches, whether measured
in terms of money or a state of mind of far greater value than money
...
Before we can master an enemy, we must know its name, its
habits, and its place of abode
...

Do not be deceived by the habits of these subtle enemies
...


THE SIX BASIC FEARS
There are six basic fears, with some combination of which every human suffers
at one tune or another
...
Named in the order of their most common appearance, they are:The fear of POVERTY
The fear of CRITICISM
} most of one’s
The fear of ILL HEALTH } worries
The fear of LOSS OF LOVE OF SOMEONE
The fear of OLD AGE
The fear of DEATH
All other fears are of minor importance, they can be grouped under these six
headings
...
For almost
six years, while the depression was on, we floundered in the cycle of FEAR OF
POVERTY
...
Just
following the war, we were in the cycle of FEAR OF ILL HEALTH, as evidenced
by the epidemic of disease which spread itself all over the world
...
One’s state of mind is subject to
control and direction
...
Physicians, without fear or hesitation, have been known to physically
contact hundreds of people, daily, who were suffering from such contagious diseases as small-pox, without becoming infected
...

Man can create nothing which he does not first conceive in the form of an impulse
of thought
...
Thought impulses
which are picked up through the ether, by mere chance (thoughts which have
been released by other minds) may determine one’s financial, business, professional, or social destiny just as surely as do the thought impulses which one creates by intent and design
...
This fact may be explained by
the statement that every human being has the ability to completely control his
own mind, and with this control, obviously, every person may open his mind to

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the tramp thought impulses which are being released by other brains, or close the
doors tightly and admit only thought impulses of his own choice
...
This fact, coupled with the additional fact that everything which man
creates, begins in the form of a thought, leads one very near to the principle by
which FEAR may be mastered
...

The people of America began to think of poverty, following the Wall Street crash
of 1929
...
” This had to happen, it is in conformity with the laws of Nature
...
If you want riches,
you must refuse to accept any circumstance that leads toward poverty
...
The starting point of the path that leads to riches is DESIRE
...
In this
chapter, on FEAR, you have complete instructions for preparing your mind to
make practical use of DESIRE
...
Here is the point at which you
can turn prophet and foretell, accurately, what the future holds in store for you
...
This is one decision you cannot avoid
...
You know the road that leads to riches
...
If you neglect to make the
start, or stop before you arrive, no one will be to blame, but YOU
...
No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility if you now
fail or refuse to demand riches of Life, because the acceptance calls for but one

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thing-incidentally, the only thing you can control-and that is a STATE OF MIND
...
It cannot be purchased, it must
be created
...

This fear paralyzes the faculty of reason, destroys the faculty of imagination, kills
off self-reliance, undermines enthusiasm, discourages initiative, leads to uncertainty of purpose, encourages procrastination, wipes out enthusiasm and makes
self-control an impossibility
...

The Fear of Poverty is, without doubt, the most destructive of the six basic fears
...
Considerable courage is required to state the truth about the origin of this
fear, and still greater courage to accept the truth after it has been stated
...
Nearly all animals lower than man are motivated
by instinct, but their capacity to “think” is limited, therefore, they prey upon one
another physically
...
Man is so avaricious that every conceivable
law has been passed to safeguard him from his fellowman
...
A man is
considered less than the dust of the earth, unless he can display a fat bank account; but if he has money-NEVER MIND HOW HE ACQUIRED IT-he is a “king”
or a “big shot”; he is above the law, he rules in politics, he dominates in business,
and the whole world about him bows in respect when he passes
...


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It is no wonder that man fears poverty
...
This is a rather stinging indictment, the worst part of it being that it is TRUE
...
It is no wonder, therefore, that the divorce courts are
busy
...

Self-analysis may disclose weaknesses which one does not like to acknowledge
...
Remember, as you check yourself point by point, that you
are both the court and the jury, the prosecuting attorney and the attorney for the
defense, and that you are the plaintiff and the defendant, also, that you are on
trial
...
Ask yourself definite questions and demand direct
replies
...
If you
do not feel that you can be an impartial judge in this self-examination, call upon
someone who knows you well to serve as judge while you cross-examine yourself
...
Get it, no matter at what cost even though it may temporarily embarrass you!
The majority of people, if asked what they fear most, would reply, “I fear nothing
...
So subtle and deeply seated is the emotion of fear that one may go through
life burdened with it, never recognizing its presence
...
When you begin such an analysis, search deeply into your character
...
Commonly expressed through lack of ambition; willingness
to tolerate poverty; acceptance of whatever compensation life may offer without
protest; mental and physical laziness; lack of initiative, imagination, enthusiasm
and self-control

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INDECISION
...
Staying “on
the fence
...
Generally expressed through alibis and excuses designed to cover up,
explain away, or apologize for one’s failures, sometimes expressed in the form of
envy of those who are successful, or by criticising them
...
Usually expressed by finding fault with others, a tendency to spend
beyond one’s income, neglect of personal appearance, scowling and frowning; intemperance in the use of alcoholic drink, sometimes through the use of narcotics;
nervousness, lack of poise, self-consciousness and lack of self-reliance
...
The habit of looking for the negative side of every circumstance, thinking and talking of possible failure instead of concentrating upon the
means of succeeding
...
Waiting for “the right time” to begin putting ideas and
plans into action, until the waiting becomes a permanent habit
...
Seeing the hole
in the doughnut, but overlooking the doughnut
...

PROCRASTINATION
...
Spending enough time in creating alibis and excuses
to have done the job
...
Refusal to accept responsibility when it can be avoided
...
Compromising with difficulties instead of harnessing and using them as stepping stones to advancement
...
Planning what to do IF AND WHEN OVERTAKEN BY
FAILURE, INSTEAD OF BURNING ALL BRIDGES AND MAKING RETREAT
IMPOSSIBLE
...

EXPECTING POVERTY INSTEAD OF DEMANDING RICHES
...


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MONEY TALKS!
Some will ask, “why did you write a book about money? Why measure riches in
dollars, alone?” Some will believe, and rightly so, that there are other forms of
riches more desirable than money
...
”
The major reason why I wrote this book on how to get money is the fact that the
world has but lately passed through an experience that left millions of men and
women paralyzed with the FEAR OF POVERTY
...
When a man is down and
out and on the street, unable to get any job at all, something happens to his spirit
which can be observed in the droop of his shoulders, the set of his hat, his walk
and his gaze
...

“These people-even his friends-feel, on the other hand, a sense of superiority and
regard him, perhaps unconsciously, as a casualty
...

But borrowing in itself, when a man is borrowing merely to live, is a depressing
experience, and the money lacks the power of earned money to revive his spirits
...


“WOMEN CONCEAL DESPAIR
...
We somehow do not think of
women at all in considering the down-and-outers
...
Of course, I do not
mean the shuffling hags of the city streets who are the opposite number of the

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confirmed male bums
...

There must be many of them, but their despair is not apparent
...

“When a man is down and out he has time on his hands for brooding
...
Turning that
down, he finds himself back on the street with nowhere to go but just anywhere
...
He gazes into store windows at luxuries which are not for
him, and feels inferior and gives way to people who stop to look with an active
interest
...
He may not know it, but his aimlessness would give him away even
if the very lines of his figure did not
...

“MONEY MAKES DIFFERENCE
...
They have
their independence, their self-respect and manhood, and he simply cannot convince himself that he is a good man, too, though he argue it out and arrive at a
favorable verdict hour after hour
...
With a little money he would
be himself again
...
The agencies hang out little colored cards offering miserable wages to busted
men-$12 a week, $15 a week
...
I have a want ad clipped from a
local paper demanding a clerk, a good, clean penman, to take telephone orders
for a sandwich shop from 11 A
...
to 2 P
...
for $8 a month-not $8 a week but $8
a month
...
’ Can you imagine the brutal effrontery of anyone
who demands a good, clean penman for 11 cents an hour inquiring into the victim’s religion? But that is what busted people are offered
...
Some believe that this fear
made its appearance about the time that politics became a “profession
...

This author, being neither a humorist nor a prophet, is inclined to attribute the
basic fear of criticism to that part of man’s inherited nature which prompts him
not only to take away his fellowman’s goods and wares, but to justify his action
by CRITICISM of his fellowman’s character
...

The fear of criticism takes on many forms, the majority of which are petty and
trivial
...
Heads become bald because of the tight fitting bands of hats which
cut off the circulation from the roots of the hair
...
”
The individual falls into line and does likewise, lest some other individual CRITICISE him
...

But, it must not be supposed that women are free from the fear of criticism
...

The astute manufacturers of clothing have not been slow to capitalize this basic
fear of criticism, with which all mankind has been cursed
...
Who establishes the styles? Certainly
not the purchaser of clothing, but the manufacturer
...
He changes the styles so he can sell more
clothes
...
No man wants to drive
an automobile which is not of the latest style, although the older model may actually be the better car
...
Let us now examine human behavior when this fear affects people
in connection with the more important events of human relationship
...

Not often, however, will you find a person who has the courage to openly state his
belief on this subject
...

Why does the average person, even in this day of enlightenment, shy away from
denying his belief in the fables which were the basis of most of the religions a few
decades ago? The answer is, “because of the fear of criticism
...
It is no
wonder we have inherited a consciousness which makes us fear criticism
...

The fear of criticism robs man of his initiative, destroys his power of imagination,
limits his individuality, takes away his self-reliance, and does him damage in a
hundred other ways
...
The mother of one of my boyhood chums used to punish him with
a switch almost daily, always completing the job with the statement, “You’ll land
in the penitentiary before you are twenty
...
Criticism is the one form of service, of which everyone has too
much
...
One’s nearest relatives often are the worst offenders
...
Employers who understand human nature, get the best there is in men, not by criticism,
but by constructive suggestion
...
Criticism will plant FEAR in the human heart, or resentment, but
it will not build love or affection
...


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The major symptoms of the fear are:
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
...

LACK OF POISE
...

PERSONALITY
...
The habit of side-stepping issues instead of meeting
them squarely
...

INFERIORITY COMPLEX
...
Using
“big words” to impress others, (often without knowing the real meaning of the
words)
...
Boasting of imaginary
achievements
...

EXTRAVAGANCE
...

LACK OF INITIATIVE
...

LACK OF AMBITION
...


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THE FEAR OF ILL HEALTH
This fear may be traced to both physical and social heredity
...
The
opinion is somewhat general, also, that certain unethical people engaged in the
business of “selling health” have had not a little to do with keeping alive the fear
of ill health
...
He also
fears it because of the economic toll which it may claim
...
It has
been shown most convincingly that the fear of disease, even where there is not
the slightest cause for fear, often produces the physical symptoms of the disease
feared
...
Playing upon
this common weakness of fear of ill health, dispensers of patent medicines have
reaped fortunes
...

During the “flu” epidemic which broke out during the world war, the mayor of
New York City took drastic steps to check the damage which people were doing
themselves through their inherent fear of ill health
...
Unless you cooperate with me,
we will have a situation which we cannot control
...

Through a series of experiments conducted some years ago, it was proved that
people may be made ill by suggestion
...
” The first questioner usually provoked a grin, and a nonchalant “Oh, nothing, I’m alright,” from the victim
...
” The
third questioner was usually met with the frank admission that the victim was
actually feeling ill
...
There is a certain religious sect whose
members take vengeance upon their enemies by the “hexing” method
...

There is overwhelming evidence that disease sometimes begins in the form of
negative thought impulse
...

A man who was blessed with more wisdom than this incident might indicate,
once said “When anyone asks me how I feel, I always want to answer by knocking
him down
...
The seed of fear of ill health lives in every human
mind
...
The recent business depression kept the
doctors on the run, because every form of negative thinking may cause ill health
...
A young man suffered a disappointment in love which sent
him to a hospital
...
A specialist
in suggestive therapeutics was called in
...
Within
three weeks the patient was discharged from the hospital, still suffering, but with
an entirely different malady
...
The remedy was a hoax,
but the patient and the nurse were later married
...

SYMPTOMS OF THE FEAR OF ILL HEALTH
The symptoms of this almost universal fear are:
AUTO-SUGGESTION
...
“Enjoying” imaginary
illness and speaking of it as being real
...
Talking to others of operations, accidents and other forms of illness
...
Trying home remedies, patent medicines and “quack” remedies
...
The habit of talking of illness, concentrating the mind upon
disease, and expecting its appearance until a nervous break occurs
...
It is brought on by negative thinking and
nothing but positive thought can affect a cure
...
Most so-called cases of “nerves”
come from imaginary illness
...
Fear of ill health often interferes with proper physical exercise, and
results in over-weight, by causing one to avoid outdoor life
...
Fear of ill health breaks down Nature’s body resistance, and
creates a favorable condition for any form of disease one may contact
...
This type of person spends much time preparing for sickness, talking about death, saving money for cemetery lots, and burial expenses,
etc
...
The habit of making a bid for sympathy, using imaginary illness as the lure
...
The habit of
feigning illness to cover plain laziness, or to serve as an alibi for lack of ambition
...
The habit of using alcohol or narcotics to destroy pains such
as headaches, neuralgia, etc
...

The habit of reading about illness and worrying over the possibility of being
stricken by it
...


THE FEAR OF LOSS OF LOVE
The original source of this inherent fear needs but little description, because it
obviously grew out of man’s polygamous habit of stealing his fellow-man’s mate,
and his habit of taking liberties with her whenever he could
...
This fear is the most painful of all the six
basic fears
...

The fear of the loss of love probably dates back to the stone age, when men stole
women by brute force
...
Instead of force, they now use persuasion, the promise of pretty clothes,
motor cars, and other “bait” much more effective than physical force
...

Careful analysis has shown that women are more susceptible to this fear than
men
...
Women have learned, from experience, that
men are polygamous by nature, that they are not to be trusted in the hands of
rivals
...
The habit of being suspicious of friends and loved ones without
any reasonable evidence of sufficient grounds
...
The habit
of accusing wife or husband of infidelity without grounds
...

FAULT FINDING
...

GAMBLING
...
The habit of spending beyond one’s means, or incurring debts, to provide gifts for loved ones, with the object of making a favorable showing
...


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THE FEAR OF OLD AGE
In the main, this fear grows out of two sources
...
Secondly, and by far the most common source of
origin, from false and cruel teachings of the past which have been too well mixed
with “fire and brimstone,” and other bogies cunningly designed to enslave man
through fear
...

The possibility of ill health, which is more common as people grow older, is also a
contributing cause of this common fear of old age
...

The most common cause of fear of old age is associated with the possibility of
poverty
...
It throws a chill into the mind of every
person who faces the possibility of having to spend his declining years on a poor
farm
...

SYMPTOMS OF THE FEAR OF OLD AGE
The commonest symptoms of this fear are:
The tendency to slow down and develop an inferiority complex at the age of
mental maturity, around the age of forty, falsely believing one’s self to be “slipping” because of age
...

The habit of speaking apologetically of one’s self as “being old” merely because
one has reached the age of forty, or fifty, instead of reversing the rule and expressing gratitude for having reached the age of wisdom and understanding
...

The habit of the man or woman of forty dressing with the aim of trying to appear
much younger, and affecting mannerisms of youth; thereby inspiring ridicule by
both friends and strangers
...
The reason is obvious
...
So-called “heathen” are less
afraid of death than the more “civilized
...
”
Where did I come from, and where am I going? During the darker ages of the
past, the more cunning and crafty were not slow to offer the answer to these questions, FOR A PRICE
...

“Come into my tent, embrace my faith, accept my dogmas, and I will give you a
ticket that will admit you straightaway into heaven when you die,” cries a leader
of sectarianism
...
”
ETERNITY is a long time
...
The thought of eternal punishment, with fire, not only causes man to fear death, it often causes him to lose his
reason
...

During my research, I reviewed a book entitled “A Catalogue of the Gods,” in
which were listed the 30,000 gods which man has worshiped
...
It is little
wonder that men have become frightened at the approach of death
...

In truth, NO MAN KNOWS, and no man has ever known, what heaven or hell
is like, nor does any man know if either place actually exists
...

The fear of DEATH is not as common now as it was during the age when there
were no great colleges and universities
...
The young men and young women who attend the
colleges and universities are not easily impressed by “fire” and “brimstone
...

Insane asylums are filled with men and women who have gone mad, because of
the FEAR OF DEATH
...
Death will come, no matter what anyone may think about
it
...
It must be a,
necessity, or it would not come to all
...

The entire world is made up of only two things, ENERGY and MATTER
...
Both matter and energy can be
transformed, but neither can be destroyed
...
If neither energy nor matter can be destroyed, of
course life cannot be destroyed
...

Death is mere transition
...
Thus you may
wipe out, forever, the fear of Death
...
This fear is more

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prevalent among the aged, but sometimes the more youthful are victims of it
...
A busy person seldom has
time to think about dying
...
Sometimes the fear of death is closely associated with the Fear of Poverty, where one’s
death would leave loved ones poverty-stricken
...

The commonest causes of the fear of death are: ill-health, poverty, lack of appropriate occupation, disappointment over love, insanity, religious fanaticism
...
It works slowly, but persistently
...
Step by step it “digs itself in” until it paralyzes one’s reasoning faculty, destroys self-confidence and initiative
...

An unsettled mind is helpless
...
Most individuals lack the willpower to reach decisions promptly, and to stand by them after
they have been made, even during normal business conditions
...
”
During the depression the whole atmosphere, all over the world, was filled with
“Fearenza” and “Worryitis,” the two mental disease germs which began to spread
themselves after the Wall Street frenzy in 1929
...
Moreover, it is an
antidote which every individual must apply for himself
...

I once interviewed a man who was to be electrocuted two hours later
...
His calmness prompted me to ask him how it felt to know that he was going
into eternity in a short while
...

Just think, brother, my troubles will soon be over
...
It has been a hardship to get food and clothing
...
I have felt fine ever since I learned FOR CERTAIN that I must die
...
”
As he spoke he devoured a dinner of proportions sufficient for three men, eating
every mouthful of the food brought to him, and apparently enjoying it as much as
if no disaster awaited him
...
The six basic fears become translated
into a state of worry, through indecision
...
Whip the
fear of poverty by reaching a decision to get along with whatever wealth you can
accumulate WITHOUT WORRY
...
Eliminate the fear of old age by reaching a decision to accept it, not as a
handicap, but as a great blessing which carries with it wisdom, self-control, and
understanding not known to youth
...
Master
the fear of loss of love by reaching a decision to get along without love, if that is
necessary
...
With this decision will
come poise, peace of mind, and calmness of thought which will bring happiness
...

Even a dog or a horse knows when its master lacks courage; moreover, a dog or a
horse will pick up the vibrations of fear thrown off by its master, and behave accordingly
...
A honey-bee immediately
senses fear in the mind of a person-for reasons unknown, a bee will sting the
person whose mind is releasing vibrations of fear, much more readily than it will
molest the person whose mind registers no fear
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

Mental telepathy is a reality
...

The person who gives expression, by word of mouth, to negative or destructive
thoughts is practically certain to experience the results of those words in the form
of a destructive “kick-back
...
First
of all, and perhaps most important to be remembered, the person who releases
thoughts of a destructive nature, must suffer damage through the breaking down
of the faculty of creative imagination
...

The third source of damage to the person who entertains or releases negative
thoughts, lies in this significant fact-these thought-impulses are not only damaging to others, but they IMBED THEMSELVES IN THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
OF THE PERSON RELEASING THEM, and there become a part of his character
...
When a thought is released, it spreads in every direction, through the medium of the ether, but it also
plants itself permanently in the subconscious mind of the person releasing it
...
To be successful, you must
find peace of mind, acquire the material needs of life, and above all, attain HAPPINESS
...

You may control your own mind, you have the power to feed it whatever thought
impulses you choose
...
You are the master of your own earthly destiny just as surely as
you have the power to control your own thoughts
...


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THINK AND GROW RICH

THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP: THE SEVENTH BASIC EVIL
In addition to the Six Basic Fears, there is another evil by which people suffer
...
It is so subtle
that its presence often is not detected
...
IT IS MORE DEEPLY SEATED AND MORE OFTEN FATAL THAN ALL
OF THE SIX FEARS
...

Men who accumulate great riches always protect themselves against this evil! The
poverty stricken never do! Those who succeed in any calling must prepare their
minds to resist the evil
...
If you neglect this self-analysis, you will forfeit your right to attain the object of your desires
...
After you read the questions prepared for this selfanalysis, hold yourself to a strict accounting in your answers
...

You can easily protect yourself against highway robbers, because the law provides
organized cooperation for your benefit, but the “seventh basic evil” is more difficult to master, because it strikes when you are not aware of its presence, when you
are asleep, and while you are awake
...
This evil is also dangerous because it
strikes in as many different forms as there are human experiences
...
At other
times, it bores from within, through one’s own mental attitude
...


HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST NEGATIVE INFLUENCES
To protect yourself against negative influences, whether of your own making, or
the result of the activities of negative people around you, recognize that you have
a WILL-POWER, and put it into constant use, until it builds a wall of immunity
against negative influences in your own mind
...


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Recognize that you are, by nature, susceptible to all the six basic fears, and set up
...

Recognize that negative influences often work on you through your subconscious
mind, therefore they are difficult to detect, and keep your mind closed against all
people who depress or discourage you in any way
...

Deliberately seek the company of people who influence you to
THINK AND ACT FOR YOURSELF
...

Without doubt, the most common weakness of all human beings is the habit of
leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people
...

To aid those who wish to see themselves as they really are, the following list of
questions has been prepared
...
This will make it easier for you to be truthful with
yourself
...
your occupation
b
...
play and relaxation
d
...
plain waste
Who among your acquaintances,
a
...
cautions you most
c
...
helps you most in other ways

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What is your greatest worry? Why do you tolerate it?
When others offer you free, unsolicited advice, do you accept it without question,
or analyze their motive?
What, above all else, do you most DESIRE? Do you intend to acquire it?
Are you willing to subordinate all other desires for this one?
How much time daily do you devote to acquiring it?
Do you change your mind often? If so, why?
Do you usually finish everything you begin?
Are you easily impressed by other people’s business or professional titles, college
degrees, or wealth?
Are you easily influenced by what other people think or say of you?
Do you cater to people because of their social or financial status?
Whom do you believe to be the greatest person living?
In what respect is this person superior to yourself?
How much time have you devoted to studying and answering these questions? (At
least one day is necessary for the analysis and the answering of the entire list
...
Study the questions carefully, come back to them
once each week for several months, and be astounded at the amount of additional
knowledge of great value to yourself, you will have gained by the simple method of
answering the questions truthfully
...

The experience will be astonishing
...

This is the most significant and inspiring of all facts known to man! It reflects
man’s Divine nature
...
If you fail to control your own mind, you may be sure

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you will control nothing else
...
Your mind is your spiritual estate! Protect and use it with the care to
which Divine Royalty is entitled
...

Unfortunately, there is no legal protection against those who, either by design
or ignorance, poison the minds of others by negative suggestion
...
Men with negative minds tried to convince Thomas A
...
” Edison did
not believe them
...

Men with negative minds told F
...
Woolworth, he would go “broke” trying to
run a store on five and ten cent sales
...
He knew that he
could do anything, within reason, if he backed his plans with faith
...

Men with negative minds told George Washington he could not hope to win
against the vastly superior forces of the British, but he exercised his Divine right
to BELIEVE, therefore this book was published under the protection of the Stars
and Stripes, while the name of Lord Cornwallis has been all but forgotten
...
Some said the thing never would
become practical
...

FORD SAID, “I’LL BELT THE EARTH WITH DEPENDABLE MOTOR CARS,”
AND HE DID!
His decision to trust his own judgment has already piled up a fortune far greater
than the next five generations of his descendents can squander
...

Henry Ford has been repeatedly mentioned, because he is an astounding example
of what a man with a mind of his own, and a will to control it, can accomplish
...
” Ford never had a chance, either, but he CREATED AN OPPORTUNITY
AND BACKED IT WITH PERSISTENCE UNTIL IT MADE HIM RICHER THAN
CROESUS
...
You either control your
mind or it controls you
...
The most practical of
all methods for controlling the mind is the habit of keeping it busy with a definite
purpose, backed by a definite plan
...
Without this control, success is not possible
...
They know
all the reasons for failure, and have what they believe to be air-tight alibis to explain away their own lack of achievement
...
But
alibis cannot be used for money
...
As you read
the list, examine yourself carefully, and determine how many of these alibis, if
any, are your own property
...

IF I didn’t have a wife and family
...

IF I had money
...

IF I could get a job
...

IF I only had time
...

IF other people understood me
...

IF I could live my life over again
...

IF I had been given a chance
...

IF other people didn’t “have it in for me”
...

IF I were only younger
...

IF I had been born rich
...

IF I had the talent that some people have
...

IF I only had embraced past opportunities
...


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IF I didn’t have to keep house and look after the children
...

IF the boss only appreciated me
...

IF my family understood me
...

IF I could just get started
...

IF I had the personality of some people
...

IF my talents were known
...

IF I could only get out of debt
...

IF I only knew how
...

IF I didn’t have so many worries
...

IF people weren’t so dumb
...

IF I were sure of myself
...

IF I had not been born under the wrong star
...

IF I did not have to work so hard
...

IF I lived in a different neighborhood
...

IF I only had a business of my own
...

IF - and this is the greatest of them all - I had the courage to see myself as I really
am, I would find out what is wrong with me, and correct it, then I might have a
chance to profit by my mistakes and learn something from the experience of others, for I know that there is something WRONG with me, or I would now be where
I WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I had spent more time analyzing my weaknesses, and
less time building alibis to cover them
...
The habit
is as old as the human race, and is fatal to success! Why do people cling to their
pet alibis? The answer is obvious
...
It is human nature
to defend one’s own brain-child
...
Habits are difficult to break, especially
when they provide justification for something we do
...
To be conquered by
self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile
...
”

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“It has always been a mystery to me,” said Elbert Hubbard, “why people spend so
much time deliberately fooling themselves by creating alibis to cover their weaknesses
...
”
In parting, I would remind you that “Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is TIME
...
You are playing against a partner
who will not tolerate INDECISION!”
Previously you may have had a logical excuse for not having forced Life to come
through with whatever you asked, but that alibi is now obsolete, because you are
in possession of the Master Key that unlocks the door to Life’s bountiful riches
...
There is no
penalty for the use of the Key, but there is a price you must pay if you do not use
it
...
There is a reward of stupendous proportions if you put
the Key to use
...

The reward is worthy of your effort
...
”
In closing, may I borrow his thought, and say, “If we are related, we have, through
these pages, met

---