Page 149 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

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.

As one makes an impartial study of the prophets, philosophers, "miracle" men,
and religious leaders of the past, one is drawn to the inevitable conclusion that
PERSISTENCE, concentration of effort, and DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE,
were the major sources of their achievements.

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NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

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, PERSIST-
ENCE!

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. This brief review of that book, by Thomas Sugrue, in the Herald-Tribune,
will provide a preview of the rare treat in store for those who take the time to read
the entire story of one of the most astounding examples of the power of PERSIST-
ENCE known to civilization.

THE LAST GREAT PROPHET

Reviewed by Thomas Sugrue

"Mohammed was a prophet, but he never performed a miracle. He was not a
mystic; he had no formal schooling; he did not begin his mission until he was
forty. When he announced that he was the Messenger of God, bringing word of
the true religion, he was ridiculed and labeled a lunatic. Children tripped him
and women threw filth upon him. He was banished from his native city, Mecca,
and his followers were stripped of their worldly goods and sent into the desert
after him. When he had been preaching ten years he had nothing to show for it
but banishment, poverty and ridicule. Yet before another ten years had passed,
he was dictator of all Arabia, ruler of Mecca, and the head of a New World re-
ligion which was to sweep to the Danube and the Pyrenees before exhausting
the impetus he gave it. That impetus was three-fold: the power of words, the
efficacy of prayer and man's kinship with God.

"His career never made sense. Mohammed was born to impoverished mem-
bers of a leading family of Mecca. Because Mecca, the crossroads of the world,