Napoleon Hill

There is something radically wrong with a civilization, and a system of education, which permit 98% of the people to go through life as failures. But I did not write this book for the purpose of moralizing on the rights and wrongs of the world; that would require a book a hundred times the size of this one. p. 85

Inability to cooperate with others. More people lose their positions and their big opportunities in life, because of this fault, than for all other reasons combined.

Most of us go through life as failures, because we are waiting for the "time to be right" to start doing something worthwhile. The time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.

I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure, unless built upon truth and justice, therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. p. 55

Moreover--and this statement is of stupendous importance--this earth, every one of the billions of individual cells of your body, and every atom of matter, began as an intangible form of energy. p. 64

Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along. p. 127

Building alibis is a deeply rooted habit. Habits are difficult to break, especially when they provide justification for something we do. Plato had this truth in mind when he said, The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile. p. 173

The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun. p. 112

In parting, I would remind you that "Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is time. If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be wiped off the board by time. You are playing against a partner who will not tolerate indecision! p. 173

Truly, thoughts are things, and their scope of operation is the world, itself. p. 87

The earth on which you live, you, yourself, and every other material thing are the result of evolutionary change, through which microscopic bits of matter have been organized and arranged in an orderly fashion. p. 63

He has increased the speed of locomotion, until he may now travel at a speed of more than three hundred miles an hour. The time will soon come when a man may breakfast in New York, and lunch in San Francisco. p. 62