Napoleon Hill

I do my banking at the Harriman National Bank, at Forty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, not because there are not scores of other good banks much nearer my place of business; but for the reason that the tellers, and the cashiers, and the lobby detective, and Mr. Harriman, and all of the others, with whom I come in contact, make it their business to be agreeable. My account is small but they receive me as though it were large.

I greatly admire John D. Rockefeller, Jr., not because he is the son of one of the world's richest men; but for the better reason that he, too, has acquired the art of being agreeable.

In the little city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, lives M. T. Garvin, a very successful merchant whom I would travel hundreds of miles to visit, not because he is a wealthy merchant, but for the reason that he makes it his business to be agreeable. However, I have no doubt that his material success is closely related to this noble art of affability which he has acquired.

I have in my vest pocket a Parker fountain pen, and my wife and children have pens of the same brand, not because there are not other good fountain pens, but for the reason that I have been attracted to George S. Parker on account of his habit of being agreeable.

My wife takes the Ladies' Home journal, not because there are not other good magazines of a similar nature, but for the reason that we became attracted to the journal several years ago, while Edward Bok was its editor, because he had acquired the art of being agreeable.

O ye struggling pilgrims, who are searching for the rainbow's end; ye drawers of water and hewers of wood, tarry for a moment by the wayside and learn a lesson from the successful men and women who have succeeded because they acquired the art of - being agreeable!

You can win, for a time, through ruthlessness and stealth; you can garner in more of this world's goods than you will need, by sheer force and shrewd strategy, without taking the time or going to the trouble of being agreeable; but, sooner or later, you will come to that point in life at which you will feel the pangs of remorse and the emptiness of your well filled purse.