The definition of quoting is “to cite or refer to for illustration or proof. People have various opinions about how to become successful. Why not go to the writing of someone who was an adviser to a president as to what the key principles of success are. The quotes on this topic that I like the most are from Napoleon Hill, the author of the famous book Think and Grow Rich. He was also an adviser to President Franklin D, Roosevelt. In this article, I will use 3 of his quotes as illustrations of some key principles of success.

1. “No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.”

One key principle of success is to know that failure is very often the path to success if we have the wisdom to take it as a learning lesson.

2. “Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious”.

We are the sum total of our thoughts. Who we are today is a reflection of all our habitual thoughts. That's why we have to be very careful and conscious of what we think most of the time.

For instance Napoleon Hill also states that “if you believe you can do it, you can”. This requires that we know ourselves, that we are aware of our beliefs so we can correct those that are not favorable to us. If we don't pay attention, our mind will take the path of least resistance which most of the time is toward negative thoughts.

3. “Most of us go through life as failures, because we are waiting for the “time to be right” to start doing something worthwhile. 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”.(This is also a quote by Napoleon Hill).

All we have anyway is the present. We are not guaranteed the future as anything can happen. We may thus focus on what we can control which is the present.

As you can see in these success quotes on how to become successful, Napoleon Hill believed in the positive impact that adversity can have on us. One of his favorite saying is that nobody ever fulfills his/her greatness with great ease. This is understandable as he grew in one of the poorest part of the country to become the adviser of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.