1004 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY
developed into fifteen specific principles, which later grew to sixteen,
and finally to seventeen principles comprising the laws of success.
This lesson, The Universal Law of Cosmic Habitforce, defines the
seventeenth principle in the evolution of Hill's philosophy. Although this
law would become a part of many of his subsequent works, it had not
evolved early enough to have been a part of the original editions of Law
of Success.
Napoleon Hill's philosophy had its formal beginning when, in 1908,
Andrew Carnegie offered him the opportunity to interview the most powerful
men of his day in order to learn the secrets of their success. From the
interviews, Hill came to realize that all these successful men had certain
principles in common. Over the next twenty years, as he analyzed and
organized the pOints he wanted to stress in his lectures, in magazine and
newspaper articles, and in a home-study course, the principles became
refined into specific laws.
Those principles became even more refined on that day in 1920
when Napoleon Hill observed that the rivulets of water running down a
windowpane resembled the rungs of a ladder. In his mind it became trans-
formed into not just any ladder but a ladder that could lead to success.
In a flash of inspiration Hill resolved to create a series of lectures based
on each of his fifteen principles representing another rung in this ladder.
By mastering these principles the student would climb the Magic Ladder
to Success.
It was these fifteen principles that became the fifteen main lessons
of the first edition of Law of Success. In later editions the number of prin-
ciples and lessons was expanded to sixteen as Hill realized that the
Master Mind, which had been the introduction to the first edition, was
actually a separate principle.
After the successful publication of Law of Success, Napoleon Hill
lectured widely and wrote numerous books on the subject of success
including his classic bestseller, Think and Grow Rich, and, with W. Clement
Stone, The Success System That Never Fails. As he continued to lecture