Think and Grow Rich

by Napoleon Hill

Truly, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that,

I had learned, from years of experience with men, that when a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win.

Just what young Barnes said to Mr. Edison on that occasion was far less important than that which he thought.

Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first interview. 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. Months went by. Apparently nothing happened to bring the coveted goal which Barnes had set up in his mind as his definite major purpose. But something important was happening in Barnes’ mind. 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.

What a different story men would have to tell if only they would adopt a definite purpose, and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession!

When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a different direction

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.

he has proved that one really may “Think and Grow Rich.”

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.

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.

“I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.”

told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.

It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach.

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.

When you begin to think and grow rich, you will observe that riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.

One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man’s familiarity with the word “impossible.” He knows all the rules which will not work. He knows all the things which cannot be done. This book was written for those who seek the rules which have made others successful, and are willing to stake everything on those rules. A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary. The first thing I did with it was to turn to the word “impossible,” and neatly clip it out of the book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do. Success comes to those who become success conscious.

from failure consciousness to success consciousness.

They cannot think in terms of riches, because their thought habits have been steeped in poverty, want, misery, failure, and defeat.

We foolishly believe that our own limitations are the proper measure of limitations.

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.

He should have told us that the ether in which this little earth floats, in which we move and have our being, is a form of energy moving at an inconceivably high rate of vibration, and that the ether is filled with a form of universal power which adapts itself to the nature of the thoughts we hold in our minds; and influences us, in natural ways, to transmute our thoughts into their physical equivalent.

our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and, by means with which no man is familiar, these “magnets” attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.

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

To everyone, except himself, he appeared only another cog in the Edison business wheel, but in his own mind, he was the partner of edison every minute of the time, from the very day that he first went to work there.

He left himself no possible way of retreat. He had to win or perish!

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.

Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches.

First. Be definite as to the amount. (There is a psychological reason for definiteness which will be described in a subsequent chapter). Second. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. (There is no such reality as something for nothing.) Third. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire. Fourth. 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.

Fifth. 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.

Sixth. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after arising in the morning. As you read-see and feel and believ...

the successful application of these six steps does call for sufficient imagination to enable one to see, and to understand, that accumulation of money cannot be left to chance, good fortune, and luck. One must realize that all who have accumulated great fortunes, first did a certain amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing, desiring, and planning before they acquired money.

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.

Those who are afraid of new ideas are doomed before they start.

shrine, thus proving once more that “success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis.”

If the thing you wish to do is right, and you believe in it, go ahead and do it! Put your dream across, and never mind what “they” say if you meet with temporary defeat, for “they,” perhaps, do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.

Practical dreamers do not quit!

“The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a dream.” “The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of reality.”

Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness, or lack of ambition.

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.

Disappointment over love affairs, generally has the effect of driving men to drink, and women to ruin; and this, because most people never learn the art of transmuting their strongest emotions into dreams of a constructive nature.

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.

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

I bargained with Life for a penny, And Life would pay no more, However I begged at evening When I counted my scanty store. 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. I worked for a menial’s hire, Only to learn, dismayed, That any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have willingly paid.

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

Desire backed by faith, pushed reason aside, and inspired me to carry on.

In all my experience in dealing with men and women who had personal problems, I never handled a single case which more definitely demonstrates the power of desire.

Strange and imponderable is the power of the human mind!

You can never be a singer.” Never is a long time!