Think and Grow Rich Summary - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Thoughts Are Things

1.       Thoughts are 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.

2.      When one is truly ready for a thing, it puts in its appearance, and he will be determined to remain ready until he got that which he was seeking.

3.      Adopt a definite Purpose, and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession.

4.      When the opportunity comes, it appears in a different form and from different direction than had expected.

5.      Often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.

6.      This is why so many fail to recognize opportunity.

7.      An intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart by the application of known principles.

8.     Know what you want, and have the determination to stand by that desire until you realize it.

9.      3 Feet from gold à one of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.

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

11.   “I will never stop because men say no.”

12.  Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat or some failures.

13.  When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit.

14.  More than 500 of the most successful men this country has ever known, their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.

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

16.  Every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.

17.   Keep on trying and failing until you learn what will work. Failures are just practice shots.

18.  “No” does not necessarily mean no.

19.  Both the successes and the failures have their roots in simple experiences.

20. What of the man who has neither the time, nor the inclination to study failure in search of knowledge that may lead to success?

21.  Where and how is he to learn the art of converting defeat into stepping stones to opportunity?

22. 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.

23. When you begin to Think and Grow Rich, you will observe that riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little or no hard work.

24. This book was written for those who seek the rules which have made other successful and are willing to stake everything on those rules.

25.  Success comes to those who become success conscious.

26. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.

27.  Another weakness found in altogether too many people, is the habit of measuring everything and everyone, by their own impressions and beliefs.

28. We refuse to believe that which we do not understand. We foolishly believe that our own limitations are the proper measure of limitations. Sure, the other fellow’s eyes are “off slant,” because they are not the same as your own.

29. Clearly know what you want to accomplish, have faith in your ability and persist until you have accomplished your goal.

30. We are the Master of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls, because we have the power to control our thoughts.

31.  The ether in which this little earth floats, in which we move and have our being, is a form of energy moving at an inconceivably high rate of vibration, and that the ether is filled with a form of universal power which adapts itself to the nature of the thoughts we hold in our minds; and influences us, in natural ways, to transmute our thoughts into their physical equivalent.

32. Our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and by means with which no man is familiar, these magnets attract to us the force, the people, and the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.

33. Before we can accumulate riches in great abundance, we must magnetize our minds with intense desire for riches, that we must become money conscious until the desire for money drives us to create definite plans for acquiring it.

34. If this book has proven to be that successful, surely you owe it to yourself to give it every chance to work for you too. Read it. Don’t question it. Do it.

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

Click here for Chapter 2: Desire – The Starting Point of All Achievement