Quotes by Napoleon Hill
Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Napoleon Hill. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Napoleon Hill
Oliver Napoleon Hill (born October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American self-help author. He is known best for his book Think and Grow Rich (1937) which is among the 10 best selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted that fervid expectations are essential to improving one's life. Most of his books were promoted as expounding principles to achieve "success".
Hill is, in modern times, a controversial figure. Accused of fraud, modern historians also doubt many of his claims, such as that he met Andrew Carnegie and that he was an attorney. Gizmodo has called him "the most famous conman you've probably never heard of".
The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors.
To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.
Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent.
Success in its highest and noblest form calls for peace of mind and enjoyment and happiness which come only to the man who has found the work that he likes best.
Every adversity contains, at the same time, a seed of equivalent opportunity!
Longer Version/[Notes]:
Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit.
If you are not learning while you're earning, you are cheating yourself out of the better portion of your compensation.
Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it. This is the equivalent of saying "deeds, and not words, are what count most
You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.
If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way. Don't wait for great opportunities. Seize common, everyday ones and make them great.
The starting point of all achievement is desire.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.
A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
If you give up before your goal has been reached, you are a "quitter." A QUITTER NEVER WINS AND A WINNER NEVER QUITS. Lift this sentence out, write it on a piece of paper in letters an inch high, and place it where you will see it every night before you go to sleep, and every morning before you go to work.
Time is a master worker that heals the wounds of temporary defeat, and equalizes the inequalities and rights the wrongs of the world.
If you don't want your life to be 'messed up,' don't fool around with those who have messed up theirs.
Cherish your vision and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.
I learned that when one needs anything very badly, it is very difficult for him to find anyone who wishes to help him get it, but when one gets over the hump, achieves recognition, and no longer needs help, then just about everybody on earth wants to do something for him.
It takes more than a college degree to make one a person of education. Any person who is educated is one who has learned to get whatever he wants in life without violating the rights of others.
There is but one dependable method of accumulating and legally holding riches, and that is by rendering useful service.
Enthusiasm is contagious, and the person who has it, under control, is generally welcome in any group of people.
There is always room for those who can be relied upon to delivery the goods when they say they will.
Man's brain may be compared to an electric battery...a group of electric batteries will provide more energy than a single battery.
Enthusiasm, if fueled by inspiration and perseverance, travels with passion and its destination is excellence.
What remarkable strength is shown by the person who can lay aside personal prejudices and work without friction with a group of individuals with whom he or she is not in accord on many subjects.
The great leaders of business, industry and finance, and the great artists, poets, musicians and writers all became great because they developed the power of self-motivation .
Experience is an asset of which no worker can be cheated, no matter how selfish or greedy his immediate employer may be.
Imagine, as realistically as possible, the place where you want to be in the near future, the state you wish to reach and the Universe will help you and guide you.
Successful people move on their own initiative but they know where they are going before they start.
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 creates them has returned to dust.
People buy personalities as much as merchandise, and it is a question if they are not influenced more by the personalities with which they come in contact than they are by the merchandise.
No man has a chance to enjoy permanent success until he begins to look in a mirror for the real cause of all his mistakes.
Render more service than you are paid for and eventually you will be paid more for less services rendered.
Every man's own character is written so all who will may read it, in the expression of his eyes, the tone of his voice, the posture of his body, the style of his clothes, and the nature of his deeds!
The battle is all over except the shouting when one knows what is wanted and has made up his mind to get it, whatever the price may be.
If you can keep on trying after three failures in a given undertaking you may consider yourself a 'suspect' as a potential leader in your chosen occupation. If you can keep on trying after a dozen failures the seed of a genius is germinating within your soul.
The average person would have quit at the first failure. That's why there have been many average men and only one Edison.
Most people wish for riches, but few people provide the definite plan and burning desire which pave the road to wealth.
Truly, thoughts are things, and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation into riches, or other material objects.
ALL THOUGHTS WHICH HAVE BEEN EMOTIONALIZED, (given feeling) AND MIXED WITH FAITH, begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterpart.
Sex energy is the creative energy of all creative geniuses.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
Sex energy is the creative energy of all geniuses. There never has been, and never will be a great leader, builder or artist lacking in the driving force of sex.
Bravery is fearlessness-the absence of fear. The merest dolt may be brave because he lacks the mentality to appreciate his danger.
People who do not succeed have one distinguishing trait in common. They know all the reasons for failure, and have what they believe to be air-tight alibis to explain away their own lack of achievement.
Persistence is the direct result of habit. The mind absorbs and becomes a part of the daily experiences upon which it feeds. Fear, the worst of all enemies, can be effectively cured by forced repetition of acts of courage.
The person who sows a single beautiful thought in the mind of another, renders the world a greater service than that rendered by all the faultfinders combined.
Every well built house started in the form of a definite purpose plus a definite plan in the nature of a set of blueprints.
Every failure, every adversity, every heartache may be a blessing in disguise providing it softens the animal portion of our nature.
Every failure is a blessing in disguise, providing it teaches some needed lesson one could not have learned without it. Most so-called Failures are only temporary defeats.
You can't change where you started, but you can change the direction you are going. It's not what you are going to do, but it's what you are doing now that counts.
If you love, absolutely love what you are doing, chances are excellent that you will succeed. There is nothing so exhausting as working on a job you don't like.
Success is very largely a matter of adjusting one's self to the ever-varying and changing environments of life, in a spirit of harmony and poise.
If you truly desire money so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to be so determined to have it that you convince yourself that you will have it.
Most failures could have been converted into successes if someone had held on another minute or made more effort.
The major weakness of all educational systems is that they neither teach nor encourage the habit of definite decision.
An educated person is not necessarily the one who has the knowledge, but the one who knows where to get it when needed.
The space you occupy and the authority you exercise may be measured with mathematical exactness by the service you render.
You have to understand you cannot have faith and fear at the same time; you can only have one or the other.
That man is rich indeed who has more friends than enemies, fears no one, and is so busy building that he has no time to devote to tearing down another's hopes and plans.
The surest way of finding peace of mind is that which helps the greatest number of others to find it.
You can be absolutely certain that when you feel you are being most unfairly tested, you are being prepared for great achievement.
Who said it could not be done? And tell me what great victories does he have to his credit which qualifies him to judge what can and can't be accomplished.
FAITH is the only agency through which the cosmic force of Infinite Intelligence can be harnessed and used by man.
When two or more people coordinate in a spirit of harmony, and work toward a definite objective, they place themselves in position, through that alliance, to absorb power directly from the great universal storehouse of Infinite Intelligence.
It is a point that I repeat over and over again in teaching public speaking. It is not so much what you say as it is the tone and manner in which you say it that makes a lasting impression.
Like the wind that carries one ship east and another west, the law of autosuggestion will lift you up or pull you down according to the way that you set your sails of thought.
If you believe yourself unfortunate because you have loved and lost, perish the thought. One who has loved truly, can never lose entirely.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade and sell it to all of those who get thirsty from complaining.
A mind ill with negative attitudes is more dangerous than a sick body, for its sickness is always contagious.
You might find it necessary to 'snap' out of your mental inertia, moving slowly at first, then increasing your speed, until you gain complete control over your will. Be persistent no matter how slowly you may, at first, have to move. With persistence will come success.
Desire is making people build ships and cities, has made men conquer nations... and it can defeat that nicotine.
The world is filled with unfortunate souls who didn't hear opportunity knock at the door, because they were down at the convenience stor buying lottery tickets.
It is your responsibility to make sure that positive emotions constitute the dominating influence of your mind.
What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement.
A positive mind finds a way it can be done; a negative mind looks for all the ways it can't be done.
The most damaging forms of intolerance are connected with religious, racial and political differences of opinion.
Every individual has the power to change his or her material or financial status by first changing the nature of his or her beliefs.
Maintain perfect harmony between yourself and every member of your mastermind group. If you fail to carry out this instruction to the letter, you may expect to meet with failure. The master mind principle cannot obtain where perfect harmony does not prevail.
Until a man selects a DEFINITE PURPOSE IN LIFE, he dissipates his energies and spreads his thoughts over so many subjects and in so many different directions that they lead not to power, but to indecision and weakness.
The person who stops studying merely because he has finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what may be his calling. The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge.
Don't be afraid of a little opposition. Remember that the 'Kite' of success generally rises against the wind of Adversity, not with it.
The vast majority of people are born, grow up, struggle and go through life in misery and failure, not realizing that it would be just as easy to switch over and get exactly what they want out of life, not recognizing that the mind attracts the thing it dwells upon.
If your imagination leads you to understand how quickly people grant your requests when those requests appeal to their self- interest, you can have practically anything you go after.
Handicaps can be converted into stepping stones on which one may climb toward some worthy goal, unless they are accepted as obstacles, and used as alibis.
Disappointment over love affairs generally has the effect of driving men to drink, and women to ruin; and this, because most people never learn the art of transmuting their strongest emotions into dreams of a constructive nature.
The successful leader must be willing to assume responsibility for the mistakes and the shortcomings of his followers.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Are you satisfied with where you are and the direction you are going? If not, take control of your life and change whatever needs to be changed. You and only you have the power to do this. You can change your world!
It is in quiet that our best ideas occur to us. Don't make the mistake of believing that by a frantic kind of dashing around you are being your most effective and efficient self. Don't assume that you are wasting time when you take time out for thought.
If the thing you wish to do is right, and YOU BELIEVE IN IT, go ahead and do it! Put your dreams across, and never mind what 'they' say if you meet with temporary defeat, for 'they' perhaps, do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.
What if you have failed in the past? So, at one time did every man we recognize as a towering success. They called it temporary defeat.
Every time a man rises from defeat, he becomes mentally and emotionally stronger. Thus, in time, one may actually find his self -- his true, inner self -- through temporary defeat.
An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or its equivalent, without violating the rights of others. -- .
A mind dominated by positive emotions, becomes a favorable abode for the state of mind known as faith.
We are what we are, because of the vibrations of thought which we pick up and register, through the stimuli of our daily environment.
Do not look for a miracle, because you will not find it. You will find only the eternal laws of nature. These laws are available to every person who has the faith and the courage to use them.
Deliberately seek the company of people who influence you to think and act on building the life you desire.
The most practical of all methods for controlling the mind is the habit of keeping it busy with a definite purpose, backed by a definite plan.
No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be BELIEF, not mere hope or wish.
Our minds become magnetized with the dominating thoughts we hold in our minds and these magnets attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.
The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not inspire faith, courage, and belief.
One who has loved truly can never lose entirely.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
One who has loved truly, can never lose entirely. Love is whimsical and temperamental. Its nature is ephemeral, and transitory. It comes when it pleases,and goes away without warning. Accept and enjoy it while it remains, but spend no time worrying about its departure. Worry will never bring it back.
Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty.
Do not let a day go by without taking some time for yourself -- some time you spend in pure pleasure, as you see it.
No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.
Longer Version/[Notes]:
No two minds ever come together without a third invisible force, which may be likened to a 'third mind.' When a group of individual minds are coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance becomes available to every individual in the group.
The two roads that lead to poverty and riches travel in opposite directions. If you want riches, you must refuse to accept any circumstance that leads to poverty. (The word riches is here used in its broadest sense, meaning financial, spiritual, mental, and material estates).
Indecision, doubt and fear. The members of this unholy trio are closely related; where one is found, the other two are close at hand.
Napoleon Hill saw this law of transmutation as the seed of equivalent benefit: With every disappointment, heartbreak, or failure, there exists an equal (usually greater) positive benefit.
No one could become an efficient leader or take the initiative in any great undertaking without belief in himself.
You are engaged in an undertaking of major importance to you. To be sure of success, you must have plans which are faultless.
The persistent man with a poor plan stands a better chance of winning than the man with a perfect plan who hesitates and waivers in carrying it out.
Decide where you are going and how you are to get there. Then make a start from where you now stand.
Life gives no one immunity against adversity, but life gives to everyone the power of positive thought which is sufficient to master all circumstances of adversity and convert them into benefits.
