Quotes from, "Think and Grow Rich" by Napolean Hill

“Desire can be transformed into gold.”

“Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and perhaps, some failure.” 

“Their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.”

“When riches begin to come they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years.”

“Riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or nor hard work.”

“Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.”

“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

“We have the power to control our thoughts.” 

“Maintain a spirit of open-mindedness.”

“Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success.”

“No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it.”

“Every man is what he is because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind.”

“Faith is the only agency through which the cosmic force of Infinite Intelligence can be harnessed and used by man.”

“Abraham Lincoln was a failure at everything he tried, until he was well past the age of fourty. He was a Mr. Nobody from Nowhere, until a great experience came into his life, aroused the sleeping genius within his heart and brain, and gave the world one of its really great men.”

“Mahatma Gandhi, In this man the world had one of the most astounding examples know to civilization of the possibilities of faith.”

“Successful men, in all callings, never stop acquiring specialized knowledge related to their major purpose, business, or profession.” 

“Plato has this truth in mind when he said, “The first and best victory is to conquer self. TO be conqured by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.”

“Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is time. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate indecision!”

“The Master Key is intangible, but it is powerful! It is the privilege of creating, in your own mind, a burning desire for a definite form of 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. The price is failure.”

“If we are related, we have, through these pages, met.”

Suggested books to read: 

The Secret

The Law of Success

Life is a Business   

How Do You Determine Who Will Be Successful?

Do you think determining who will be successful in life is as easy as looking at a newborn baby and seeing a certain gleam in his/her eye?  Let’s all take a mental field trip to the maternity ward at a hospital and suggest who we think will be successful in life.  What do you think our probability of success will be?  What do you think our probability of failure will be?

Many notable people, such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, and St. Paul, have tried to determine what makes some people more successful than others.  Take for example:

Plato believed only a select few with superior wisdom should be leaders.  Now let’s look at Aristotle who states "Fromthe moment of their birth, some are marked for subjugation and others for command.  Machiavelli felt that those princes who had the cunning and the ability to organize power and knowledge in the defense of the state should be followed.  St. Paul said only those deemed worthy through divine blessing couldtruly lead.  Many believed God chose leaders through royal or aristocratic birth, and since indeed these men didsecure positions of power, the theory seemed credible.

I believe that a person’s ability to understand and apply the lessons they have learned will make them very successful.  Many times, we are provided with lessons that we must understand on our own.  Sometimes, we will see the same thing others see, but detract different lessons from what we saw.  This does not make any of our assumptions incorrect.  It just provides many perspectives on what has taken place.

The progression toward helping someone become successful should start at a very young age.  I would say as early as two years old.  Children start picking up on things around this age.  Now, helping them become successful does not mean to live your childhood dreams through them.  Helping them become successful just means to find out things that they really like to do and help them reach their goals.  Take my nieces for example.  These young ladies are nine and eleven years old.  The nine year old would like to become an actress and the eleven year old would like to become a professional dancer.  My family believes in encouraging them and providing them with the necessary tools to help their dreams come true.  Encouragement is done by conversations, participating in like events, and my latest gift to them: a vision board.  Recently, I gave them a vision board with the task of decorating the board and placing their dreams and aspirations on it.  I told them to place the board somewhere that they will see it every day, so they can start living in their passion.  The nine year old asked me for some ideas to help her make a vision board.  I gave her another task, which will help her on the road to success: I told her to look up some ideas on the computer.  I truly believe that success comes with self-direction and should be started at an early age.  My mother did the same thing with me.  When I was around 10 years old and wanted to know what a word meant, she told me to look it up.  This is the very reason why I continue to research questions that I may have about life, words, and human interactions. 

Success is truly determined by the individual by setting goals.  A good way to do this is to attach a time line to your goals.  Tell yourself, I want to sign up for dancing or acting classes by the time I am 16 years old or I want to have authored five books by the time I am 30.  The timeline will allow you to focus on what you need to do and when you need to do it.

~Don’t let people determine whether or not you will be successful.  Start defining your own opportunity.