Page 175 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

lifts it out of the commonplace, and makes of it potter's clay in the hands of God,
from which He fashions all that is beautiful and inspiring. It is an interpretation
which would, when properly understood, bring harmony out of the chaos which
exists in too many marriages. The disharmonies often expressed in the form of
nagging, may usually be traced to lack of knowledge on the subject of sex. Where
love, romance and the proper understanding of the emotion and function of sex
abide, there is no disharmony between married people.

Fortunate is the husband whose wife understands the true relationship between
the emotions of love, sex, and romance. When motivated by this holy triumvirate,
no form of labor is burdensome, because even the most lowly form of effort takes
on the nature of a labor of love.

177

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

It is a very old saying that "a man's wife may either make him or break him," but
the reason is not always understood. The "making" and "breaking" is the result of
the wife's understanding, or lack of understanding of the emotions of love, sex,
and romance. Despite the fact that men are polygamous, by the very nature of
their biological inheritance, it is true that no woman has as great an influence on a
man as his wife, unless he is married to a woman totally unsuited to his nature. If
a woman permits her husband to lose interest in her, and become more interested
in other women, it is usually because of her ignorance, or indifference toward the
subjects of sex, love, and romance. This statement presupposes, of course, that
genuine love once existed between a man and his wife.

The facts are equally applicable to a man who permits his wife's interest in him
to die. Married people often bicker over a multitude of trivialities. If these are
analyzed accurately, the real cause of the trouble will often be found to be indif-
ference, or ignorance on these subjects. Man's greatest motivating force is his
desire to please woman! The hunter who excelled during prehistoric days, before
the dawn of civilization, did so, because of his desire to appear great in the eyes
of woman. Man's nature has not changed in this respect. The "hunter" of today
brings home no skins of wild animals, but he indicates his desire for her favor
by supplying fine clothes, motor cars, and wealth. Man has the same desire to
please woman that he had before the dawn of civilization. The only thing that
has changed, is his method of pleasing. Men who accumulate large fortunes, and
attain to great heights of power and fame, do so, mainly, to satisfy their desire to
please women.

Take women out of their lives, and great wealth would be useless to most men. It
is this inherent desire of man to please woman, which gives woman the power to
make or break a man.