Page 9 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

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NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

Chapter 1

Introduction

THE MAN WHO "THOUGHT" HIS WAY INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH
THOMAS A. 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.

A little more than thirty years ago, Edwin C. Barnes discovered how true it is that
men really do THINK AND GROW RICH. His discovery did not come about at
one sitting. It came little by little, beginning with a BURNING DESIRE to become
a business associate of the great Edison.

One of the chief characteristics of Barnes' Desire was that it was definite. He
wanted to work with Edison, not for him. Observe, carefully, the description of
how he went about translating his DESIRE into reality, and you will have a better
understanding of the thirteen principles which lead to riches. When this DESIRE,
or impulse of thought, first flashed into his mind he was in no position to act upon
it. Two difficulties stood in his way. He did not know Mr. Edison, and he did not
have enough money to pay his railroad fare to Orange, New Jersey. These diffi-
culties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority of men from making any
attempt to carry out the desire.

But his was no ordinary desire! He was so determined to find a way to carry out
his desire that he finally decided to travel by "blind baggage," rather than be de-
feated. (To the uninitiated, this means that he went to East Orange on a freight
train). He presented himself at Mr. Edison's laboratory, and announced he had
come to go into business with the inventor. In speaking of the first meeting be-
tween Barnes and Edison, years later, Mr. 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 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. I gave him the op-
portunity he asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until
he succeeded. Subsequent events proved that no mistake was made."