Latest / Think and Grow Rich | Book Podcast / Chapter 9 Part 2

Transcript

Chapter 9 Part 2 · Think and Grow Rich | Book Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: You are listening to Think and Grow Rich, written by
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Napoleon Hill. This is an independent edition containing the original
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: 1937 core text, produced by audiopulse.org. It is not affiliated with, approved,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: or endorsed by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. We hope you enjoy.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: How to develop persistence. There are four simple steps which
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: lead to the habit of persistence. They call for no
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: great amount of intelligence, no particular amount of education, and
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: but little time or effort. The necessary steps are a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: definite purpose backed by burning desire for its fulfillment, a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: definite plan expressed in continuous action, A mind closed tightly
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: against all negative and discouraging influences, including negative suggestions of relatives, friends,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: and acquaintances. A friendly alliance with one or more persons
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: who will encourage one to follow through with both plan
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and purpose. These four steps are essential for success in
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: all walks of life. The entire purpose of the 13
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: principles of this philosophy is to enable one to take
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: these four steps as a matter of habit. These are
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the steps by which one may control one's economic destiny.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: They are the steps that lead to freedom and independence
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: of thought. They are the steps that lead to riches
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: in small or great quantities. They lead the way to power, fame,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and worldly recognition. They are the four steps which guarantee
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: favorable breaks. They are the steps that convert dreams into
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: physical realities. They lead, also, to the mastery of fear, discouragement, indifference.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: There is a magnificent reward for all who learn to
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: take these four steps. It is the privilege of writing
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: one's own ticket, and of making life yield whatever price
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: is asked. I have no way of knowing the facts,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: but I venture to conjecture that Mrs. Wallace Simpson's great
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: love for a man was not accidental, nor the result
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: of favorable breaks alone. There was a burning desire— and
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: careful searching at every step of the way. Her first
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: duty was to love. What is the greatest thing on earth?
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: The master called it love, not man-made rules, criticism, bitterness, slander,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: or political marriages, but love. She knew what she wanted,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: not after she met the Prince of Wales, but long
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: before that. Twice, when she had failed to find it,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: she had the courage to continue her search. To thine
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: own self be true, and it must follow, as the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: night the day, thou canst not then be false to
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: any man. Her rise from obscurity was of the slow, progressive,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: persistent order. But it was sure. She triumphed over unbelievably
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: long odds. And no matter who you are, or what
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: you may think of Wallis Simpson, or the king who
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: gave up his crown for her love, she is an
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: astounding example of applied persistence, an instructor on the rules
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: of self-determination, from whom the entire world might profitably take lessons.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: When you think of Wallis Simpson, think of one who
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: knew what she wanted and shook the greatest empire on
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: earth to get it. Women who complain that this is
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a man's world, that women do not have an equal
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: chance to win, owe it to themselves to study carefully
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the life of this unusual woman, who, at an age
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: which most women consider old, captured the affections of the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: most desirable bachelor in the entire world. And what of
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: King Edward? What lesson may we learn from his part
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: in the world's greatest drama of recent times? Did he
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: pay too high a price for the affections of the
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: woman of his choice? Surely no one but he can
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: give the correct answer. The rest of us can only conjecture.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: This much we know. The king came into the world
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: without his own consent. He was born to great riches
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: without requesting them. He was persistently sought in marriage. Politicians
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: and statesmen throughout Europe tossed dowagers and princesses at his feet.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Because he was the firstborn of his parents, he inherited
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: a crown, which he did not seek, and perhaps did
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: not desire. For more than forty years he was not
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: a free agent, could not live his life in his
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: own way, had but little privacy, and finally assumed duties
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: inflicted upon him when he ascended the throne. Some will say,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: with all these blessings— King Edward should have found peace
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: of mind, contentment, and joy of living. The truth is
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: that back of all the privileges of a crown, all
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the money, the fame, and the power inherited by King Edward,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: there was an emptiness which could be filled only by love.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: His greatest desire was for love. Long before he met
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Wallace Simpson, he doubtless felt this great universal emotion tugging
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: at the strings of his heart. beating upon the door
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: of his soul and crying out for expression. And when
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: he met a kindred spirit, crying out for this same
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: holy privilege of expression, he recognized it, and without fear
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: or apology, opened his heart and bade it enter. All
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the scandal-mongers in the world cannot destroy the beauty of
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: this international drama, through which two people found love and
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: had the courage to face open criticism, renounce all else
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to give it holy expression. King Edward's decision to give
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: up the crown of the world's most powerful empire for
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the privilege of going the remainder of the way through
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: life with the woman of his choice was a decision
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: that required courage. The decision also had a price, but
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: who has the right to say the price was too great?
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Surely not he who said, He among you who is
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: without sin, let him cast the first stone. As a
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: suggestion to any evil-minded person who chooses to find fault
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: with the Duke of Windsor because his desire was for
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: love and for openly declaring his love for Wallis Simpson
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: and giving up his throne for her, let it be
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: remembered that the open declaration was not essential. He could
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: have followed the custom of clandestine liaison which has prevailed
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: in Europe for centuries without giving up either his throne
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: or the woman of his choice. and there would have
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: been no complaint from either church or laity. But this
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: unusual man was built of sterner stuff. His love was clean.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: It was deep and sincere. It represented the one thing which,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: above all else, he truly desired. Therefore, he took what
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: he wanted and paid the price demanded. If Europe had
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: been blessed with more rulers with the human heart and
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the traits of honesty of ex-King Edward for the past century,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: That unfortunate hemisphere now seething with greed, hate, lust, political connivance,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and threats of war would have a different and a
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: better story to tell. A story in which love and
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: not hate would rule. In the words of Stuart Austin Weir,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: we raise our cup and drink this toast to ex-King
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Edward and Wallace Simpson. Blessed is the man who has
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: come to know that our muted thoughts are our sweetest thoughts.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Blessed is the man who, from the blackest depths, can
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: see the luminous figure of love, and, seeing, sing, and singing, say,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Sweeter far than uttered lays are the thoughts I have
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: of you. In these words would we pay tribute to
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the two people who, more than all others of modern times,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: have been the victims of criticism and the recipients of abuse,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: because they found life's greatest treasure and claimed it. Mrs.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Simpson read and approved this analysis. Most of the world
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: will applaud the Duke of Windsor and Wallace Simpson because
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: of their persistence in searching until they found life's greatest reward.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: All of us can profit by following their example in
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: our own search for that which we demand of life.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: What mystical power gives to men of persistence the capacity
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: to master difficulties? Does the quality of persistence set up
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: in one's mind some form of spiritual, mental, or chemical
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: activity which gives one access to supernatural forces? Does infinite
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: intelligence throw itself on the side of the person who
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: still fights on, after the battle has been lost, with
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: the whole world on the opposing side? These and many
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: other similar questions have arisen in my mind as I
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: have observed men like Henry Ford, who started at scratch,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: and built an industrial empire of huge proportions, with little
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: else in the way of a beginning but persistence. Or
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Thomas A. Edison, who, with less than three months of schooling,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: became the world's leading inventor and converted persistence into the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: talking machine, the moving picture machine, and the incandescent light,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: to say nothing of half a hundred other useful inventions.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I had the happy privilege of analyzing both Mr. Edison
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and Mr. Ford, year by year, over a long period
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: of years, and therefore the opportunity to study them at
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: close range. So I speak from actual knowledge when I
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: say that I found no quality save persistence in either
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: of them that even remotely suggested the major source of
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: their stupendous achievements. As one makes an impartial study of
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: the prophets, philosophers, miracle men, and religious leaders of the past,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: one is drawn to the inevitable conclusion that persistence, concentration
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: of effort, and definiteness of purpose were the major sources
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: of their achievements. Consider, for example, the strange and fascinating
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: story of Muhammad. Analyze his life, Compare him with men
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: of achievement in this modern age of industry and finance,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: and observe how they have one outstanding trait in common— persistence.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: If you are keenly interested in studying the strange power
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: which gives potency to persistence, read a biography of Muhammad,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: especially the one by Esad Bey. This brief review of
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: that book, by Thomas Sugru in the Herald Tribune, will
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: provide a preview of the rare treat in store for
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: those who take the time to read the entire story
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: of one of the most astounding examples of the power
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: of persistence known to civilization. The Last Great Prophet Reviewed
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: by Thomas Sugru Muhammad was a prophet, but he never
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: performed a miracle. He was not a mystic. He had
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: no formal schooling. He did not begin his mission until
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: he was forty. When he announced that he was the
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: messenger of God, bringing word of the true religion, he
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: was ridiculed and labeled a lunatic. Children tripped him, and
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: women threw filth upon him. He was banished from his
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: native city, Mecca, and his followers were stripped of their
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: worldly goods and sent into the desert after him. When
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: he had been preaching ten years, he had nothing to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: show for it but banishment, poverty, and ridicule. Yet before
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: another ten years had passed, he was dictator of all Arabia,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: ruler of Mecca, and the head of a new world
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: religion which was to sweep to the Danube and the
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Pyrenees before exhausting the impetus he gave it. That impetus
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: was threefold, the power of words, the efficacy of prayer,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and man's kinship with God. His career never made sense.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Muhammad was born to impoverished members of a leading family
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: of Mecca. Because Mecca, the crossroads of the world, home
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: of the magic stone called the Kaaba, great city of
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: trade and the center of trade routes, was unsanitary, its
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: children were sent to be raised in the desert by Bedouins.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Muhammad was thus nurtured, drawing strength and health from the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: milk of nomad, vicarious mothers. He tended sheep and soon
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: hired out to a rich widow as leader of her caravans.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: He traveled to all parts of the eastern world, talked
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: with many men of diverse beliefs, and observed the decline
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: of Christianity into warring sects. When he was twenty-eight, Khadija,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the widow, looked upon him with favor and married him.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Her father would have objected to such a marriage, so
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: she got him drunk and held him up while he
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: gave the paternal blessing. For the next twelve years, Muhammad
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: lived as a rich and respected and very shrewd trader.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Then he took to wandering in the desert, and one day,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: He returned with the first verse of the Quran and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: told Khadija that the archangel Gabriel had appeared to him
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: and said that he was to be the messenger of God.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: The Quran, the revealed word of God, was the closest
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: thing to a miracle in Muhammad's life. He had not
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: been a poet. He had no gift of words. Yet
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: the verses of the Quran, as he received them and
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: recited them to the faithful, were better than any verses
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: which the professional poets of the tribes could produce. This,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to the Arabs, was a miracle. To them, the gift
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: of words was the greatest gift. The poet was all-powerful.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: In addition, the Quran said that all men were equal
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: before God, that the world should be a democratic state, Islam.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: It was this political heresy, plus Muhammad's desire to destroy
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: all the 360 idols in the courtyard of the Kaaba,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: which brought about his banishment. The idols brought the desert
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: tribes to Mecca, and that meant trade. So the businessmen
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: of Mecca, the capitalists, of which he had been one,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: set upon Muhammad. Then he retreated to the desert and
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: demanded sovereignty over the world. The rise of Islam began.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Out of the desert came a flame which would not
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: be extinguished. A democratic army fighting as a unit and
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: prepared to die without wincing. Muhammad had invited the Jews
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: and Christians to join him, for he was not building
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: a new religion. He was calling all who believed in
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: one God to join in a single faith. If the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Jews and Christians had accepted his invitation, Islam would have
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: conquered the world. They didn't. They would not even accept
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Muhammad's innovation of humane warfare. When the armies of the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Prophet entered Jerusalem, not a single person was killed because
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: of his faith. When the Crusaders entered the city, centuries later,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: not a Muslim man, woman, or child was spared. but
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: the Christians did accept one Muslim idea, the place of learning,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the university. You have been listening to Think and Grow Rich,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: written by Napoleon Hill. We hope you enjoyed this classic rendition.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Find more stories on audiopulse.org