Page 226 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned
P. 226

could not build a machine that would record and reproduce the human voice,
"because" they said, "no one else had ever produced such a machine." Edison did
not believe them. He knew that the mind could produce ANYTHING THE MIND
COULD CONCEIVE AND BELIEVE, and that knowledge was the thing that lifted
the great Edison above the common herd.

Men with negative minds told F. W. Woolworth, he would go "broke" trying to
run a store on five and ten cent sales. He did not believe them. He knew that he
could do anything, within reason, if he backed his plans with faith. Exercising
his right to keep other men's negative suggestions out of his mind, he piled up a
fortune of more than a hundred million dollars.

Men with negative minds told George Washington he could not hope to win
against the vastly superior forces of the British, but he exercised his Divine right
to BELIEVE, therefore this book was published under the protection of the Stars
and Stripes, while the name of Lord Cornwallis has been all but forgotten.

Doubting Thomases scoffed scornfully when Henry Ford tried out his first crude-
ly built automobile on the streets of Detroit. Some said the thing never would
become practical. Others said no one would pay money for such a contraption.

FORD SAID, "I'LL BELT THE EARTH WITH DEPENDABLE MOTOR CARS,"
AND HE DID!

His decision to trust his own judgment has already piled up a fortune far greater
than the next five generations of his descendents can squander. For the benefit of
those seeking vast riches, let it be remembered that practically the sole difference
between Henry Ford and a majority of the more than one hundred thousand men
who work for him, is this-FORD HAS A MIND AND CONTROLS IT, THE OTH-

230

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

ERS HAVE MINDS WHICH THEY DO NOT TRY TO CONTROL.

Henry Ford has been repeatedly mentioned, because he is an astounding example
of what a man with a mind of his own, and a will to control it, can accomplish.
His record knocks the foundation from under that time-worn alibi, "I never had a
chance." Ford never had a chance, either, but he CREATED AN OPPORTUNITY
AND BACKED IT WITH PERSISTENCE UNTIL IT MADE HIM RICHER THAN
CROESUS.

Mind control is the result of self-discipline and habit. You either control your
mind or it controls you. There is no hall-way compromise. The most practical of
all methods for controlling the mind is the habit of keeping it busy with a definite
   221   222   223   224   225   226   227   228   229   230   231