Page 87 - Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich Full Book | Success Learned

NAPOLEON HILL THINK AND GROW RICH

The story of practically every great fortune starts with the day when a creator
of ideas and a seller of ideas got together and worked in harmony. Carnegie sur-
rounded himself with men who could do all that he could not do. Men who cre-
ated ideas, and men who put ideas into operation, and made himself and the
others fabulously rich.

Millions of people go through life hoping for favorable "breaks." Perhaps a favo-
rable break can get one an opportunity, but the safest plan is not to depend upon
luck. It was a favorable "break" that gave me the biggest opportunity of my life-
but-twenty-five years of determined effort had to be devoted to that opportunity
before it became an asset.

The "break" consisted of my good fortune in meeting and gaining the coopera-
tion of Andrew Carnegie. On that occasion Carnegie planted in my mind the idea
of organizing the principles of achievement into a philosophy of success. Thou-
sands of people have profited by the discoveries made in the twenty-five years of
research, and several fortunes have been accumulated through the application of
the philosophy. The beginning was simple. It was an IDEA which anyone might
have developed.

The favorable break came through Carnegie, but what about the DETERMINA-
TION, DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE, and the DESIRE TO ATTAIN THE GOAL,
and the PERSISTENT EFFORT OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS? It was no ordinary
DESIRE that survived disappointment, discouragement, temporary defeat, criti-
cism, and the constant reminding of "waste of time." It was a BURNING DESIRE!
AN OBSESSION!

When the idea was first planted in my mind by Mr. Carnegie, it was coaxed,
nursed, and enticed to remain alive. Gradually, the idea became a giant under
its own power, and it coaxed, nursed, and drove me. Ideas are like that. First you
give life and action and guidance to ideas, then they take on power of their own
and sweep aside all opposition.

Ideas are intangible forces, but they have more power than the physical brains
that give birth to them. They have the power to live on, after the brain that cre-
ates them has returned to dust. For example, take the power of Christianity. That
began with a simple idea, born in the brain of Christ. Its chief tenet was, "do unto
others as you would have others do unto you." Christ has gone back to the source
from whence He came, but His IDEA goes marching on.

Some day, it may grow up, and come into its own, then it will have fulfilled Christ's
deepest DESIRE. The IDEA has been developing only two thousand years. Give
it time!