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Acres of Diamonds
"By a heart made unspeakably sad by a grave on which the autumn leaves now fall, I know there are some things higher and grander and sublimer than money. " Russell H Conwell
The quotation is taken from Russell H Conwell's lecture Acres of Diamonds is one that I particularly like. It illustrates his love for life first, rather than any love of money. However, the book itself is about money - money as a means, that is, not as an end in itself. Because as a means, money opens the door to possibility.
As a Baptist minister, Conwell was often forced to rebut popular criticism on his central proposal that money was not an evil or bad thing in itself. Many people would attempt to quote the Bible to him in support of their beliefs that the acquisition of wealth was somehow wrong. He would always point out, in these cases, that they had misquoted the Bible especially with respect to the 'love of money is the root of all evil' citation that was so often mis-quoted to him.
His famous text essentially concerns the subject of opportunity and where it may be found; and, it does make the bold statement that perhaps you should be rich. It goes on to describe the stories of many people who were rich, in terms of opportunity, but remained poor simply because they were not able to recognise opportunity.
Told as a parable, or learning story, the book provides the lesson that you may be literally surrounded " right where you are, right now " with diamonds, but unless you know what a diamond-in-the-rough actually looks like, maybe you will still die poor. It is a powerful message that he was invited to deliver over and over to different congregations. He once commented that the talk was 'the most popular of any lecture I have delivered in the fifty-seven years of my public life'.
This classic personal development text is well worth reading today as a reminder that opportunity lies in the eye, and mind, of the beholder. Certainly, this book is one of the most engaging works on this theme ever written.
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