Page 202 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

A state of mind is something that one assumes. It cannot be purchased, it must
be created.

Fear of poverty is a state of mind, nothing else! But it is sufficient to destroy one's
chances of achievement in any undertaking, a truth which became painfully evi-
dent during the depression.

This fear paralyzes the faculty of reason, destroys the faculty of imagination, kills
off self-reliance, undermines enthusiasm, discourages initiative, leads to uncer-
tainty of purpose, encourages procrastination, wipes out enthusiasm and makes
self-control an impossibility. It takes the charm from one's personality, destroys
the possibility of accurate thinking, diverts concentration of effort, it masters per-
sistence, turns the will-power into nothingness, destroys ambition, beclouds the
memory and invites failure in every conceivable form; it kills love and assassi-
nates the finer emotions of the heart, discourages friendship and invites disaster
in a hundred forms, leads to sleeplessness, misery and unhappiness-and all this
despite the obvious truth that we live in a world of over-abundance of everything
the heart could desire, with nothing standing between us and our desires, except-
ing lack of a definite purpose.

The Fear of Poverty is, without doubt, the most destructive of the six basic fears.
It has been placed at the head of the list, because it is the most difficult to mas-
ter. Considerable courage is required to state the truth about the origin of this
fear, and still greater courage to accept the truth after it has been stated. The
fear of poverty grew out of man's inherited tendency to PREY UPON HIS FEL-
LOW MAN ECONOMICALLY. Nearly all animals lower than man are motivated
by instinct, but their capacity to "think" is limited, therefore, they prey upon one
another physically. Man, with his superior sense of intuition, with the capacity to
think and to reason, does not eat his fellowman bodily, he gets more satisfaction
out of "eating" him FINANCIALLY. Man is so avaricious that every conceivable
law has been passed to safeguard him from his fellowman.

Of all the ages of the world, of which we know anything, the age in which we live
seems to be one that is outstanding because of man's money-madness. A man is
considered less than the dust of the earth, unless he can display a fat bank ac-
count; but if he has money-NEVER MIND HOW HE ACQUIRED IT-he is a "king"
or a "big shot"; he is above the law, he rules in politics, he dominates in business,
and the whole world about him bows in respect when he passes.

Nothing brings man so much suffering and humility as POVERTY! Only those
who have experienced poverty understand the full meaning of this.

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NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH