Orison Swett Marden

It has sent thousands of youths, with renewed determination, back to school or college, back to all sorts of vocations which they had abandoned in…

The author has received thousands of letters from people in nearly all parts of the world telling how the book has aroused their ambition, changed…

The book has been translated into many foreign languages. In Japan and several other countries it is used extensively in the public schools.…

Crowned heads, presidents of republics, distinguished members of the British and other parliaments, members of the United States Supreme Court, noted…

This volume is full of the most fascinating romances of achievement under difficulties, of obscure beginnings and triumphant endings, of stirring…

The book tells how men and women have seized common occasions and made them great; it tells of those of average ability who have succeeded by the use…

Before a man can lift himself he must lift his thoughts. When we shall have learned to master our thought habits, to keep our minds open to the great…

The book points out the fact that what is called success may be failure; that when men love money so much that they sacrifice their friendships,…

Dr. Marden, in "Pushing to the Front," shows that the average of the leaders are not above the average of ability. They are ordinary people, but of…

Vigilance in watching opportunity; tact and daring in seizing upon opportunity; force and persistence in crowding opportunity to its utmost of…

There never was a day that did not bring its own opportunity for doing good that never could have been done before, and never can be again.--W. H.…

"There is no if in the case," replied Nelson. "That we shall succeed is certain. Who may live to tell the tale is a very different question." Then,…

"FORWARD THEN," said the Little Corporal, without heeding their account of apparently insurmountable difficulties. England and Austria laughed in…

When this "impossible" deed was accomplished, some saw that it might have been done long before. Others excused themselves from encountering such…

On transports up the Mississippi, the Ohio, and one of its tributaries; on a litter borne by horses for many miles through the wilderness; and into…

Did things _adjust themselves_ when Horatius with two companions held ninety thousand Tuscans at bay until the bridge across the Tiber had been…

History furnishes thousands of examples of men who have seized occasions to accomplish results deemed impossible by those less resolute. Prompt…

"If you will let me try, I think I can make something that will do," said a boy who had been employed as a scullion at the mansion of Signer Faliero,…

Dinner was announced, and many of the most noted merchants, princes, and noblemen of Venice were ushered into the dining-room. Among them were…

When the distinguished guests learned that the lion had been made in a short time by a scullion, the dinner was turned into a feast in his honor. The…

"The best men," says E. H. Chapin, "are not those who have waited for chances but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the chance; and…

The lack of opportunity is ever the excuse of a weak, vacillating mind. Opportunities! Every life is full of them. Every lesson in school or…

It is the idle man, not the great worker, who is always complaining that he has no time or opportunity. Some young men will make more out of the odds…

"There is nobody whom Fortune does not visit once in his life," says a cardinal; "but when she finds he is not ready to receive her, she goes in at…

Cornelius Vanderbilt saw his opportunity in the steamboat, and determined to identify himself with steam navigation. To the surprise of all his…

Young Philip Armour joined the long caravan of Forty-Niners, and crossed the "Great American Desert" with all his possessions in a prairie schooner…

John D. Rockefeller saw his opportunity in petroleum. He could see a large population in this country with very poor lights. Petroleum was plentiful,…

These are illustrations of seizing opportunity for the purpose of making money. But fortunately there is a new generation of electricians, of…

Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, a Quaker lady, saw her opportunity in the prisons of England. From three hundred to four hundred half-naked women, as late as…

"The time comes to the young surgeon," says Arnold, "when, after long waiting, and patient study and experiment, he is suddenly confronted with his…

Open eyes will discover opportunities everywhere; open ears will never fail to detect the cries of those who are perishing for assistance; open…

Everybody knew how steadily a suspended weight, when moved, sways back and forth until friction and the resistance of the air bring it to rest, yet…

For ages astronomers had been familiar with the rings of Saturn, and regarded them merely as curious exceptions to the supposed law of planetary…

Innumerable apples had fallen from trees, often hitting heedless men on the head as if to set them thinking, but Newton was the first to realize that…

Lightning had dazzled the eyes, and thunder had jarred the ears of men since the days of Adam, in the vain attempt to call their attention to the all…

Like many others, these men are considered great, simply because they improved opportunities common to the whole human race. Read the story of any…

He who improves an opportunity sows a seed which will yield fruit in opportunity for himself and others. Every one who has labored honestly in the…

Avenues greater in number, wider in extent, easier of access than ever before existed, stand open to the sober, frugal, energetic and able mechanic,…

"What is its name?" asked a visitor in a studio, when shown, among many gods, one whose face was concealed by hair, and which had wings on its feet.…

"Opportunity has hair in front," says a Latin author; "behind she is bald; if you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her, but, if suffered to…

Captain Herndon appreciated the value of the opportunity he had neglected when it was beyond his reach, but of what avail was the bitterness of his…

Such people are always a little too late or a little too early in everything they attempt. "They have three hands apiece," said John B. Gough; "a…

Joe Stoker, rear brakeman on the ---- accommodation train, was exceedingly popular with all the railroad men. The passengers liked him, too, for he…

"Oh, that I had!" or "Oh, that I had not!" is the silent cry of many a man who would give life itself for the opportunity to go back and retrieve…

"There are moments," says Dean Alford, "which are worth more than years. We cannot help it. There is no proportion between spaces of time in…

"What we call a turning-point," says Arnold, "is simply an occasion which sums up and brings to a result previous training. Accidental…

The trouble with us is that we are ever looking for a princely chance of acquiring riches, or fame, or worth. We are dazzled by what Emerson calls…

Young men and women, why stand ye here all the day idle? Was the land all occupied before you were born? Has the earth ceased to yield its increase?…

Born in an age and country in which knowledge and opportunity abound as never before, how can you sit with folded hands, asking God's aid in work for…

With the world full of work that needs to be done; with human nature so constituted that often a pleasant word or a trifling assistance may stem…

Don't _wait_ for your opportunity. _Make it_,--make it as the shepherd-boy Ferguson made his when he calculated the distances of the stars with a…

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows…

"'Tis never offered twice; seize, then, the hour When fortune smiles, and duty points the way; Nor shrink aside to 'scape the specter fear, Nor pause…

"Wanted; men: Not systems fit and wise, Not faiths with rigid eyes, Not wealth in mountain piles, Not power with gracious smiles, Not even the potent…

Diogenes sought with a lantern at noontide in ancient Athens for a perfectly honest man, and sought in vain. In the market place he once cried aloud,…

Over the door of every profession, every occupation, every calling, the world has a standing advertisement: "Wanted--A Man."

Wanted, a man who, though he is dominated by a mighty purpose, will not permit one great faculty to dwarf, cripple, warp, or mutilate his manhood;…

Wanted, a man who is larger than his calling, who considers it a low estimate of his occupation to value it merely as a means of getting a living.…

A thousand pulpits vacant in a single religious denomination, a thousand preachers standing idle in the market place, while a thousand church…

Wanted, a man who is symmetrical, and not one-sided in his development, who has not sent all the energies of his being into one narrow specialty…