Napoleon Hill is the author of one of the best self-help books for reaching your financial goals and succeeding in what you set out to do. Think and Grow Rich became one of the best-selling books in history, despite being written in a time of depression (1937). In it we find many of his thoughts on a range of subjects.
Hill, who went on to become an adviser to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, set out to discover the key to wealth. After interviewing more than 500 of the most successful men of his time, he concluded that they all had something in common, while the people who did not achieve success also shared many traits, among them a way of thinking very different from that of successful men. Success, according to Hill, therefore lies in the way we think and act.
We have picked out some passages from the book with 10 of his thoughts and sayings.
10 thoughts and secrets from Napoleon Hill
1. On leadership
Most great leaders were capable of being great followers. They became great leaders because they were intelligent followers. With very few exceptions, the man who cannot follow an intelligent leader rarely becomes an effective leader.
2. On failure
“Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning, who takes great delight in tripping us up when we are very close to success.”
3. On vocation
The main weakness of education systems is that they do not encourage the habit of working towards a goal, an objective. It would be beneficial if universities did not allow a student to enrol unless that student were clear about their aim in life and, therefore, their aim in enrolling.
4. On opinions
“Opinions are among the cheapest products in the world. Everyone has a multitude of opinions. If you let opinions sway you when you make decisions, you will rarely succeed in your career, in your business or in your own desire to build wealth.”
5. On habits for wealth
“An analysis of several hundred people who had built fortunes well beyond the million-dollar mark revealed that every one of them had the habit of making decisions immediately and changing those decisions slowly. People who do not accumulate money in their lives, without exception, have the habit of making decisions very slowly and changing them quickly and often.”
6. Impossible
“One of humanity’s main weaknesses is the ordinary man’s familiarity with the word impossible. He knows all the rules, and that it won’t work. He knows all the things that can’t be done… Many years ago I bought a dictionary, and the first thing I did was tear out the page where the word impossible appeared. Doing that is a good start for anyone who wants to achieve their dreams.”
7. Starting at the bottom?
The idea of starting at the bottom and working hard until you reach the top is fine, but the main objection to it is that many of those who start at the bottom never get their heads up for the rest of their lives, because opportunity never calls on them. You should also remember that the view from the bottom is not very bright or encouraging, so the tendency is often for it to kill our ambition.
8. Thought
“Thoughts really are things, and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with a definite purpose, persistence and a burning desire.”
9. On the market
“The United States offers every freedom and opportunity for any honest person to accumulate wealth, but when you go hunting, you must choose hunting grounds where game is plentiful. The same rule applies in the search for wealth.”
10. Plans for wealth and poverty
Wealth comes about naturally through well-conceived and carefully executed plans. Poverty, on the other hand, needs no plan at all.
Further reading
Featured image: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
