1028 THE P R INC I P L E S 0 F PER SON A LIN T E G R I T Yinventor. Despite this handicap he became the partner of the great
Thomas Edison. Five years ago he retired from active business, with
more money than he needs or can use, wealth that he accumulated
in partnership with Edison.
Opportunity, capital, Cooperation from others, and all other essen-
tials for success gravitate to the person who knows what they want.
Vitalize your mind with a definite purpose and immediately your
mind becomes a magnet which attracts everything that harmonizes
with that purpose.
James J. Hill, the great railroad builder, had been a poorly paid
telegraph operator. Moreover, he had reached the age of forty and
was still ticking away at the telegraph key without any outward ap-
pearances of success.
Then something of importance happened-of importance to
Hill and to the people of the United States. He formed the definite
purpose of building a railroad across the great waste desert of the
West. Without reputation, without capital, without encouragement
from others, James J. Hill got the capital and built the Great North-
ern Railway Company, the greatest of all the railroad systems of the
United States.
F. W Woolworth had been a poorly paid clerk in a general store.
In his mind's eye he saw a chain of novelty stores specializing in five-
and-ten-cent sales. That chain of stores became his definite purpose.
He made that purpose come true, and with it more millions than he
could use.
Cyrus H. K. Curtis selected as his definite purpose the publishing
of the world's greatest magazine. Starting with nothing but the name
"Saturday Evening Post;' and opposed by friends and advisers who
said it couldn't be done, he transformed that purpose into reality.
Martin W Littleton is the most highly paid lawyer in the world.
He will accept no retainer under $50,000, and it is said that he is
kept busy all the time. When he was twelve years old he had never