The Book in 3 Sentences

1. Your mindset determines your success.
2. Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.
3. Becoming wealthy and successful is something you have control over.

Impressions

Fascinating ideas. Applicable to all areas of achievement. Quite wordy and the language is very old-fashioned. It is also quite dense with information, and some parts are hard to understand the first time through. Some of it is also a bit wishy washy. The principles are solid though and I think everyone could benefit from reading Think and Grow Rich.

Top Quotes

“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.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.

There is nothing, right or wrong, which belief, plus burning desire, cannot make real. The only limitations to our minds are those we acknowledge.

The Master Key is intangible, but it is powerful. It is the privilege of creating, in your own mind, a burning desire for a definite form of riches. There is no penalty for the use of the Key, but there is a price you must pay if you do not use it. The price is failure. There is a reward of stupendous proportions if you put the Key to use. It is the satisfaction that comes to all who conquer self and force life to pay whatever is asked. The reward is worthy of your effort. Will you make the start and be convinced?

Summary, Notes & Quotes

All achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.

Chapter 1: Thoughts Are Things

“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.

When you are truly ready for something, it will show itself to you.

Opportunity is often disguised as misfortune, or temporary defeat. This is often why people fail to recognise it.

Quitting because of temporary failure is the main reason for failure.

Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach.

More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has ever been taken from the earth.

Always go one step further than defeat. It will pay off.

One sound idea is all you need to become rich.

When riches begin to come they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years.

Success come to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who allow themselves to become failure conscious.

One day President Harper met this young Oriental on the campus, stopped to chat with him for a few minutes, and asked what had impressed him as being the most noticeable characteristic of the American people. “Why,” the student exclaimed, “the queer slant of your eyes. Your eyes are off slant.” What do we say about the Chinese?

To achieve anything, you need desire.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.

Chapter 2: Desire

Success come to those who create a definite goal and place all their energy, all their will power, all their effort, everything, back into that goal.

By giving yourself no possible way of retreat you either win or perish.

Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success.

To turn desire into its financial equivalent there are 6 steps:

1. Determine the exact amount of money that you desire. It has to be a number.
2. Determine what you are going to give in return for the money.
3. Choose a date that you intend to get the money by.
4. Decide on a concrete plan for how you’ll get the money and start immediately, even if you feel unprepared.
5. Write out a clear, concise statement that encapsulates the four steps above.
6. Read your written statement aloud once every morning and once every evening, trying to feel and believe that you already possess the money.

Don’t be influenced by people who put you down.

Everyone passes through struggles.

No more effort is required to aim high in life then there is to aim low.

You can turn handicaps into assets.

There is nothing, right or wrong, which belief, plus burning desire, cannot make real. The only limitations to our minds are those we acknowledge.

Chapter 3: Faith

Faith is a state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind.

Repeating affirmations to your subconscious mind is the only known method to create faith. This is more effective if you pair the words with strong emotions.

No One is “Doomed” to Bad Luck. From this statement, you will understand that the subconscious mind will translate into its physical equivalent a thought impulse of a negative or destructive nature, just as readily as it will act upon thought impulses of a positive or constructive nature. This accounts for the strange phenomenon which so many millions of people experience, referred to as “misfortune,” or “bad luck.” They are the creators of their own “misfortunes,” because of this negative belief, which is picked up by the subconscious mind, and translated into its physical equivalent.

Faith is the starting point of all accumulation of riches. Faith is the basis of all “miracles,” and all mysteries which cannot be analyzed by the rules of science. Faith is the only known antidote for failure. Faith is the element, the “chemical” which, when mixed with prayer, gives one direct communication with Infinite Intelligence. Faith is the element which transforms the ordinary vibration of thought, created by the finite mind of man, into the spiritual equivalent. Faith is the only agency through which the cosmic force of Infinite Intelligence can be harnessed and used by man.

People end up believing whatever one they repeat to themselves, whether the statement is true or false. If a person repeats a lie over and over, they will eventually accept the lie as truth.

Thoughts which are mixed with any of the feelings of emotions constitute a “magnetic” force which attracts other similar or related thoughts.

Your greatest weakness is often your lack of self-confidence.

“If you think you are beaten, you are, If you think you dare not, you don’t If you like to win, but you think you can’t, It is almost certain you won’t. “If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost, For out in the world we find, Success begins with a fellow’s will— It’s all in the state of mind. “If you think you are outclassed, you are, You’ve got to think high to rise, You’ve got to be sure of yourself before You can ever win a prize. “Life’s battles don’t always go To the stronger or faster man, But soon or late the man who wins Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN.”

Chapter 4: Autosuggestion

Autosuggestion is a term which applies to all suggestions and all self-administered stimuli which reach one’s mind through the five senses. It is talking to your subconscious mind.

Ideas the enter the subconscious mind influence our behaviour.

By repeating to yourself that you will become rich, you communicate to your subconscious mind a money-consciousness.

You need to infuse words with emotions for Autosuggestion to be effective.

Your success with autosuggestion largely depends on how much you desire something - let it become a burning obsession.

Repetition is required. Scepticism is characteristic but will eventually turn into belief.

If your subconscious expects something, it will give you plans to achieve it.

Chapter 5: Specialised Knowledge

There are two kinds of knowledge, general and specialised. General knowledge is useless when it comes to money accumulation.

Knowledge will not attract money, unless it is organized, and intelligently directed, through practical plans of action, to the definite end of accumulation of money.

Educate comes from the Latin word “educo,” meaning to educe, to draw out, to develop from within.

An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialised 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.

Any man is educated who knows where to get knowledge when he needs it, and how to organize that knowledge into definite plans of action.

The accumulation of great fortunes calls for power and power is acquired through highly organized and intelligently directed specialised knowledge, but that knowledge does not, necessarily, have to be in the possession of the man who accumulates the fortune.

You need to first decide what specialised knowledge you require. Then find out where to get that knowledge. You then need to organise it and put it to use, for a definite purpose, through practical plans.

Successful men, in all callings, never stop acquiring specialised knowledge related to their major purpose, business, or profession.

Anything acquired without effort, and without cost is generally unappreciated, often discredited.

Humans tend to only value what has a price.

We rise to high positions or remain at the bottom because of conditions we can control if we desire to control them.

Both success and failure are largely the results of habit.

Chapter 6: Imagination

Man can create anything which he can imagine. Man’s only limitation, within reason, lies in his development and use of his imagination.

There are two forms of imagination. Synthetic, which involves repurposing old concepts into new ideas, and creative, which involves the creation of new ideas through hunches or inspirations.

Your imagination may have become weak through inaction. Both the synthetic and creative faculties of imagination become more alert with use, just as any muscle or organ of the body develops through use.

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.

Ideas can be transmuted into cash through the power of definite purpose, plus definite plans. Riches, when they come in huge quantities, are never the result of hard work alone and not don’t come by chance or luck.

There is no standard price on ideas. The creator of ideas makes his own price, and, if he is smart, gets it.

When the idea was first planted in my mind, 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.

Chapter 7: Organised Planning

Meeting with a group of people can help you create ideas and make good plans.

The majority fail because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.

Temporary defeat should mean only one thing, the certain knowledge that there is something wrong with your plan. Millions of men go through life in misery and poverty, because they lack a sound plan through which to accumulate a fortune.

Your achievement can be no greater than your plans are sound.

A quitter never wins—and a winner never quits.

Most great leaders start off as followers. It is not disgraceful to be a follower. Usually, the person who cannot follow, cannot lead well.

The major attributes of leadership are: unwavering courage, self-control, a keen sense of judgement, definiteness of decision, definiteness of plans, the habit of doing more than paid for, a pleasing personality, sympathy and understanding, mastery of detail, willingness to assume full responsibility, cooperation.

The major causes of failure in leadership are: inability to organise details, unwillingness to perform humbling tasks, expectation of pay for what they “know” instead of what they do with that which they know, fear of competition from followers, lack of imagination, selfishness, intemperance, disloyalty, emphasis of the “authority” of leadership, emphasis of title.

To get the exact position you desire:

1. Decide exactly what job you want. If it doesn’t exist, maybe you can create it.
2. Chose the company/individual you wish to work for.
3. Study your prospective employer. Look at policies personnel, and chances of advancement.
4. Analyse your skills and figure out what you can offer. Plan ways you can deliver on this.
5. Forget about “a job”, whether there are openings etc. Focus on what you can give.
6. Once you have your plan, arrange with an experience writer to put it on paper in full detail.
7. Present it to the proper person of authority and they will do the rest.

This procedure may take a few days or weeks of extra time, but it will pay dividends in terms of income, advancement and gaining recognition. It will save years of hard work at small pay.

Quality, plus quantity, plus the proper spirit of cooperation, equals perfect salesmanship of service.

The value of your brain can be determined by the amount of income it can produce (by marketing your services).

The 30 major causes of failure: unfavourable genetics, lack of a well defined purpose in life, lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity, insufficient education, lack of self-discipline, ill health, unfavourable environmental influences during childhood, procrastination, lack of persistence, negative personality, lack of controlled s3xual urge, uncontrolled desire for “something for nothing” (gambling), lack of a well defined power of decision, one or more of the six basic fears (revealed later), wrong selection of a mate in marriage, over-caution, wrong selection of associates in business, superstition and prejudice, wrong selection of a vocation, lack of concentrated effort, the habit of indiscriminate spending, lack of enthusiasm, intolerance, intemperance, inability to cooperate with others, possession of power that was not acquired through self effort, intentional dishonesty, egotism and vanity, guessing instead of thinking, lack of capital.

You should know all of your weaknesses in order that you may either bridge them or eliminate them entirely. You should know your strength in order that you may call attention to it when selling your services. You can know yourself only through accurate analysis.

Conduct an annual analysis of yourself. Go over the common causes of failure and see if you fell prey to any of them.

Anyone who is reading this is probably blessed enough to have food, shelter and freedom. Opportunities to become wealthy are in your grasp.

Money without brains is always dangerous.

Capitalism denies no one the right to accumulate riches in proportion to the value of their service, but it does not, and cannot promise something for nothing, because the system, itself, is irrevocably controlled by the law of economics which neither recognizes nor tolerates for long, getting without giving.

Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis.

Chapter 8: Decision

Make decision quickly and definitely and change them slowly.

People who fail are, generally, easily influenced by the opinions of others. If you need facts/information from someone, get it quietly, without disclosing your purpose.

Know what you want and you’ll generally get it.

Chapter 9: Persistence

Willpower mixed with desire is very powerful.

Go back to chapter 2 and complete the exercise. The eagerness with which you carry this out is indicative of your desire to accumulate riches. If you are indifferent, you haven’t yet developed a “money consciousness” which is essential to have certainty of achieving great wealth.

To develop this money consciousness you need to put all of these lessons into continuous effort and make them a habit.

Fortune gravitates to those who are prepared to attract it.

To increase persistence: read the chapter on power, surround yourself with an “mastermind group”, practice autosuggestion, improve on any of the 8 factors described below, eliminate the weaknesses listed below.

Without persistence, you will be defeated, even before you start. With persistence you will win.

To snap yourself out of mental inertia: slowly pick up speed until you regain full control of your will. Be persistent.

Every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent advantage.

Defeat is temporary. Use it as an urge to greater effort.

Persistence is a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated. It is based off: definiteness of purpose, desire, self-reliance (can be improved through autosuggestion), definiteness of plans, accurate knowledge, cooperation, will-power, habit.

Before leaving the subject of persistence, take inventory of yourself, and determine in what particular, if any, you are lacking in this essential quality. Measure yourself courageously, point by point, and see how many of the eight factors of persistence you lack.

These are the weaknesses which must be mastered: failure to recognise and to define clearly exactly what one wants, procrastination (without without cause), lack of interest in acquiring specialised knowledge, indecision, the habit of relying upon alibis instead of creating definite plans for the solution of problems, self-satisfaction, indifference, the habit of blaming others for your mistakes, weakness of desire, willingness to quit at the first sign of defeat, lack of organised plans, the habit of neglecting to move on ideas or grasp opportunity, wishing instead of willing, compromising poverty instead of aiming at riches, searching for all the short-cuts to riches, fear of criticism.

People refuse to take chances in business, because they fear the criticism which may follow if they fail. The fear of criticism in such cases is stronger than the desire for success.

The time to nurse an idea is at the time of its birth. Every minute it lives, gives it a better chance of surviving. The fear of criticism is at the bottom of the destruction of most ideas which never reach the planning and action stage.

Riches do not respond to wishes. They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence.

Chapter 10: Power of the Master Mind

Plans are inert and useless, without sufficient power to translate them into action. Power may be defined as “organized and intelligently directed knowledge.”

These are sources of knowledge: infinite intelligence, accumulated experience (eg. a library), experiment and research.

1. A mastermind is the coordination of a group of two or more individuals to work together to achieve goals.

By spending time with a group of like-minded individuals you gain two benefits: advice/counsel/knowledge and a psychic link between them.

Man’s brain may be compared to an electric battery. It is a well-known fact that a group of electric batteries will provide more energy than a single battery. It is also a well-known fact that an individual battery will provide energy in proportion to the number and capacity of the cells it contains.

Men take on the nature and the habits and the power of thought of those with whom they associate in a spirit of sympathy and harmony.

Money is shy and elusive. It must be wooed and won by methods not unlike those used by a determined lover, in pursuit of the girl of his choice. And, coincidental as it is, the power used in the “wooing” of money is not greatly different from that used in wooing a maiden. That power, when successfully used in the pursuit of money must be mixed with faith. It must be mixed with desire. It must be mixed with persistence. It must be applied through a plan, and that plan must be set into action.

Poverty needs no plan. It needs no one to aid it, because it is bold and ruthless. Riches are shy and timid. They have to be “attracted.”

HAPPINESS is found in DOING Not merely in POSSESSING

Chapter 11: [Redacted]

Chapter 12: The Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind consists of a field of consciousness, in which every impulse of thought that reaches the conscious mind through any of the five senses, is classified and recorded, and from which thoughts may be recalled or withdrawn as letters may be taken from a filing cabinet.

You may voluntarily plant in your subconscious mind any plan, thought, or purpose which you desire to translate into its physical or monetary equivalent.

Remember, your subconscious mind functions voluntarily, whether you make any effort to influence it or not. This, naturally, suggests to you that thoughts of fear and poverty, and all negative thoughts serve as stimuli to your subconscious mind, unless you master these impulses and give it more desirable food upon which it may feed.

If you fail to plant desires into your subconscious mind, it will create its own as a result of your neglect.

The subconscious mind is more susceptible to influence by impulses of thought mixed with “feeling” or emotion, than by those originating solely in the reasoning portion of the mind.

There are seven major positive emotions: desire, faith, love, s3x, enthusiasm, romance and hope. There are seven major negative emotions: fear, jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed, superstition and anger.

Positive and negative emotions cannot occupy the mind at the same time.

Form the habit of applying and using the positive emotions. Eventually, they will dominate your mind so completely that the negatives cannot enter it.

If you pray for a thing, but have fear as you pray that you may not receive it, or that your prayer will not be acted upon by Infinite Intelligence, your prayer will have been in vain.

Anybody can wish for riches, and most people do, but only a few know that a definite plan, plus a burning desire for wealth, are the only dependable means of accumulating wealth.

Chapter 13: The Brain

Your brain is capable of picking up vibrations of thought which are being released by other people’s brains.

When stimulated, you become more susceptible to picking up these vibrations.

All of us are controlled by forces which are unseen and intangible.

Telepathy is thus possible.

The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.

Chapter 14: The Sixth Sense

The sixth sense is the portion of the subconscious mind which has been referred to as creative imagination.

Through the aid of the sixth sense, you will warned of impending dangers in time to avoid them, and notified of opportunities in time to embrace them.

The author is not a believer in, nor an advocate of “miracles,” for the reason that he has enough knowledge of nature to understand that Nature never deviates from her established laws.

My experience has taught me that the next best thing to being truly great is to emulate the great, by feeling and action, as nearly as possible.

The sixth sense is not something that one can take off and put on at will. Ability to use this great power comes slowly, through application of the other principles outlined in this book.

Chapter 15: The Six Ghosts of Fear

Before you can put any portion of this philosophy into successful use, your mind must be prepared to receive it. The preparation is not difficult. It begins with study, analysis, and understanding of three enemies which you shall have to clear out—indecision, doubt, and fear. The Sixth Sense will never function while these three negatives, or any one of them, remain in your mind.

Indecision is the seedling of fear.

Do not be deceived by the habits of fear. Sometimes they remain hidden in the subconscious mind, where they are difficult to locate, and still more difficult to eliminate.

The six basic fears are: fear of poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love of someone, old age, death.

Fears are nothing more than states of mind. One’s state of mind is subject to control and direction.

Thought impulses which are picked up by mere chance (thoughts which have been released by other minds) may determine one’s financial, business, professional, or social destiny just as surely as do the thought impulses which one creates by intent and design.

Every human being has the ability to completely control his own mind, and with this control, obviously, every person may open his mind to the tramp thought impulses which are being released by other brains, or close the doors tightly and admit only thought impulses of his own choice.

There can be no compromise between poverty and riches. The two roads that lead to poverty and riches travel in opposite directions.

Fear paralyzes the faculty of reason, destroys the faculty of imagination, kills off self-reliance, undermines enthusiasm, discourages initiative, leads to uncertainty 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 persistence, turns the will-power into nothingness, destroys ambition, beclouds the memory and invites failure in every conceivable form; it kills love and assassinates 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, excepting lack of a definite purpose.

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 fellow-man bodily; he gets more satisfaction out of “eating” him financially.

You are after the truth. Get it, no matter at what cost even though it may temporarily embarrass you.

No one fears nothing. They may have fears that are so deeply seated in their subconscious mind that they go through life never recognising its presence.

Symptoms of fear of poverty: indifference, indecision, doubt, worry, over-caution and procrastination.

Decide to get along with whatever wealth you can accumulate without worry.

There are other forms of riches more desirable than money.

Criticism will plant fear in the human heart, or resentment, but it will not build love or affection. Use constructive suggestions instead.

Symptoms of fear of criticism: self-consciousness, lack of poise, lacking personality, extravagance, lack of initiative and lack of ambition.

Don’t worry about what other people think, do, or say.

A reputable physician estimated that 75% of all people who visit physicians for professional service are suffering with hypochondria (imaginary illness).

Disappointments in business and love are the main cause of ill health.

Symptoms of fear of ill health: negative use of autosuggestion, hypochondria, lack of exercise, susceptibility, self-coddling and intemperance.

Make the decision to forget symptoms.

The fear of loss of love is the most painful. Science shows that women are more susceptible to this fear than men.

Symptoms of fear of loss of love: jealousy, fault finding and gambling.

Reach the decision to get along without love, if that is necessary.

Symptoms of fear of old age: the tendency to slow down on the false pretence that you are slowly “slipping” because of age (usually around the age of forty), the habit of speaking apologetically because of “being old” merely because one has reached the age of forty or fifty, the habit of killing off initiative, imagination and self-reliance because of a false belief that you are too old to exercise these qualities.

Accept old age as a great blessing which carries with it wisdom, self-control, and understanding not know to youth.

The entire world is made up of only two things, energy and matter. In elementary physics we learn that neither matter nor energy (the only two realities known to man) can be created nor destroyed. Both matter and energy can be transformed, but neither can be destroyed. Life is energy, if it is anything. If neither energy nor matter can be destroyed, of course life cannot be destroyed. Life, like other forms of energy, may be passed through various processes of transition, or change, but it cannot be destroyed. Death is mere transition.

Symptoms of fear of death: the habit of thinking about dying rather than making the most of life. This is generally due to a lack of purpose.

The common causes of fear of death are: ill-health, poverty, lack of appropriate occupation, disappointment over love, insanity, religious fanaticism.

Accept death as an inescapable event.

An unsettled mind is helpless. Indecision makes an unsettled mind.

Destructive thoughts get picked up by those around us and there is a “kick-back”. This stops your creative faculty and repels people.

You may control your own mind, you have the power to feed it whatever thought impulse you choose. With this privilege goes also the responsibility of using it constructively.

Protect yourself against negative influences. Use your will-power to block out negative influences. Seek out people who influence you to seek and act for yourself.

Self analysis questions are included in the book to help you know more about yourself. Answering these questions truthfully will be extremely valuable.

You have absolute control over one thing: your thoughts. This is the sole way to control your own destiny.

A list of commonly used alibis is included in the book to help with your own self-examination. Building alibis is a deeply rooted habit and is fatal to success.

The Master Key is intangible, but it is powerful. It is the privilege of creating, in your own mind, a burning desire for a definite form of riches. There is no penalty for the use of the Key, but there is a price you must pay if you do not use it. The price is failure. There is a reward of stupendous proportions if you put the Key to use. It is the satisfaction that comes to all who conquer self and force life to pay whatever is asked. The reward is worthy of your effort. Will you make the start and be convinced?

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