Napoleon Hill

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Napoleon Hill, 1904

Napoleon Hill (born October 26, 1883 in Pound , Virginia , † November 8, 1970 in South Carolina ) was an American writer in the field of the New Spirit movement . His book Think and Grow Rich (orig. Think and Grow Rich ) has reportedly sold since its release in 1937 and today more than 70 million times.

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Origin and early life

Hill was born in poverty in 1883 in a humble log cabin in the state of Virginia . His mother, Sarah Sylvania Blair, died when Hill was eight years old. His father, James Monroe Hill, remarried two years later. At the age of 13, Hill began writing for the local newspaper to escape the poverty of his parents' home. He used the income he gained to finance his legal education.

Journalistic activity

Hill received his law degree from Georgetown University in Washington . Through the journalistic sideline he got to know the man who would later show him the way to his life's work. Robert Love Taylor , the then governor of Tennessee and owner of the magazine Bob Taylor's Magazine , became aware of newspaper articles Hills and instructed the then 25-year-old Hill, for him a series of short biographies to write famous Americans. Andrew Carnegie was the first of them.

1908 came Hill's career turning point. As part of a series in which Hill studied and published the biographies of famous people, he met industrialist Andrew Carnegie for an interview - at the time one of the richest people in the world. Hill discovered that Carnegie believed the road to success could be summed up in one simple formula. Allegedly, Carnegie was impressed by Hill and commissioned him to interview 500 self-made millionaires to create and publish this formula.

As part of his research, Hill is said to have interviewed the most famous people of the time, including Thomas Alva Edison , Alexander Graham Bell , George Eastman , Henry Ford , Elmer Gates , John D. Rockefeller , Charles M. Schwab , FW Woolworth , William Wrigley Jr. , John Wanamaker , William Jennings Bryan , Theodore Roosevelt , William H. Taft , Woodrow Wilson , James J. Hill, and Jennings Randolph . According to Hill, the project lasted more than twenty years. During this time Hill is said to have also become Carnegie's advisor.

Whether this description of Hill's career corresponds to the facts or is to be classified as self-promotion has not yet been clearly established. In any case, David Nasaw , Andrew Carnegie's biographer, did not find any evidence of a collaboration between Carnegie and Hill during his research. It's not even proven that both men ever met.

Hill's literary works

Napoleon Hill with his famous work Think and Grow Rich , 1937

For the first time Hills Success Philosophy in 1928 appeared in his book The Law of Success (German version: Success laws in 16 lessons ), exactly twenty years after the first meeting with Carnegie. The formula was later published in a kind of self-study course, which also included the Mental Dynamite series until 1942 .

In order to be able to support his family in addition to his research work, Hill worked from 1919 to 1920 as editor-in-chief and publisher of The Golden Rule magazine and did public relations work for the Lasalle Extension University in Chicago . In 1930 he published The Ladder to Success (Eng. The ladder to success ). From 1933 to 1936 Hill was an advisor to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt .

1937 Hills most famous work was published Think and Grow Rich (dt. Think and Grow Rich ) that is printed today and has been sold to date more than 70 million copies worldwide. There were some literary models for Hill's works, such as Robert Collier , Dale Carnegie ( How to Win Friends and Influence People ), and Ralph Waldo Trine , but Hill's book has influenced all subsequent authors of self-help guides.

His book How to Sell Your Way through Life was added in 1939 and How to Raise Your Own Salary in 1953 . From 1952 to 1962, Hill worked with W. Clement Stone in the Combined Insurance Co. of America . As a partial result of this collaboration, he published Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude in 1960 . In 1970, You Can Work Your Own Miracles was added.

Original quotes

  • "Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything."
  • "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

literature

Web links

Commons : Napoleon Hill  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Napoleon Hill  Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matt Novak: The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time. In: https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com . June 12, 2016, accessed March 15, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Hill, Napoleon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Pound River , Wise County , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH November 8, 1970
Place of death South carolina