Chapter 1: Your Hall of Fame
Thomas Carlyle said, "Great men taken up in any way are very profitable company, for we cannot so much as look upon a great man without gaining something from him."
Chapter 2: This Is The Best of Me
"You may judge a man more truly by the books and the papers that he reads than by the social companions that he keeps." In this book Sterling W. Sill says that each life he chooses to spotlight will say, 'This is the best of me.'
Chapter 3: Your Own Biography
Everyone should write an autobiography in which he gives proper attention to the good things about his own possibilities.
Chapter 4: Ralph Waldo Emerson
"No good idea was ever allowed to get away."
When Emerson had an idea, he wrote it down immediately in a journal and put it in his mental incubator so the idea could grow.
Some things that made Emerson successful:
- Concentrate
- Get the spirit of our particular success
- Clean out all the discords
- Practice self-control
- Meet life on terms made to your order
- Domesticate those prolific periods of fertility
Chapter 5: Winston Churchill
"I felt as though I was walking with destiny."
Churchill was always at his best when fighting against overwhelming odds.
His life was distinguished by many things, including character.
Chapter 6: George Washington Carver
"The American with the worst start and the best finish--no alibis."
The controlling motive of his life was that he wanted to know. He possessed high ethical standards and religious principles.
He always signed his letters, "Your humble servant in God."
He said that every man owes it to himself to leave the soil a little richer than when he found it.
Chapter 7: Leonardo Da Vinci
"Saper Vedere" (knowing how to see)
Leonardo da Vinci understood the value of hard work. His life serves as an example of our productive potential. It should remind us of the need to write down on paper our ideas, our thoughts, our dreams, for they too can become a masterpiece with enough concentration and study.
Chapter 8: Benjamin Franklin
" A Quest for Perfection"
Ben worked with, and prayed over, and worshipped ideas.
Franklin wrote 13 qualities he wanted to acquire and then worked on each one at a time: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, Humility
Chapter 9: Mohandas K. Gandhi
" A Man of Principle: to Believe was to Act."
Gandhi's greatness lay in doing what everyone could do, but did not do.
From Gandhi we learn we need to merely develop the God-given qualities with which each of us in endowed.
Chapter 10: Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll
"Without thoughts, words are empty purses."
Ingersoll said that to become an orator one should study language. He should become familiar with great poetry and fiction as well as be a student of Shakespeare. He says that an orator knows exactly what he wishes to say...and stops when he is finished.
We could solve many of our problems by an increased skill in communication.
Chapter 11: Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc once to the general when facing an almost impossible objective, "I will lead the men over the wall." The general replied, "Not a man will follow you." Joan said, "I will not look back to see whether anyone is following or not."
Joan's soul was the embodiment of nobility and righeousness.
Chapter 12: Abraham Lincoln
"The things I want to know are in books..."
In him was combined the greatness of real goodness and the goodness of real greatness.
One admirable side of Lincoln's character is revealed by the fact that he kept two of hims most bitter enemies in his cabinet because he wanted their frank criticisms and honest suggestions.
Chapter 13: Madame Curie
"I will not cease to work for it as long as I live."
One of the first decisions the Curies made was that they would not patent their process of extraction, but rather they would give it freely to help science cure disease.
Only when the human elements of diligence, intelligence, and persistence in someone like Madame Curie go to work do the elements of nature find their usefulness and value.
Chapter 14: Napoleon the Great
"I may lose battles, but no one will ever see me lose minutes."
Napoleon's life was highly concentrated, well-focused, and one-directional. He had a remarkable singleness of purpose.
Napoleon believed that if one was to make history he must first know history. Therefore, he nourished his mind with the study of great books and great authors.
Napoleon was wrong in his goals, but his effort was billiant.
Chapter 15: Horatio Nelson
"Success was in his blood."
Nelson loved and desired and lived great qualities of personality that became his own, according to the universal law of attraction: "That which we love and admire and desire, we get."
Chapter 16: Jesus of Nazareth
"Nothing Can Bring Us Peace, but a Triumph of Principles."
...there are very few under takings more profitable than to study the biographies of great men and women. As we become familiar with the best traits in the lives of others, we naturally appropriate their ideas and adapt their virtues for our own use.
Chapter 17: The Prophet Job
"Suffering has a Purpose."
Chapter 18: Socrates
"Know thyself."
Socrates was called a philosopher which means "a lover of wisdom."
Socrates said, " A good man ought not to calculate his chances of living or dying. He ought only to consider whether he is doing right or wrong."
Chapter 19: Antonio Stradavari
"A Philosophy of Excellence"
From the very beginning this young boy was destined to be famous, for while Antonio was making violins, the violins were making Antonio. What one does, and the way one does it, builds character that forms a priceless philosophy of life that can distinguish the person forever.
A philosophy of excellence underlines and determines one of the most important principles of any success.
Our lives can become rich in every aspect when excellence is our goal.
Chapter 20: Booker T. Washington
"I expect to have a successful, pleasant day."
Booker believed that when one can grow to the point where he loves his work, he received a kind of strength that is invaluable.
Chapter 21: George Washington
"Unquestioned Devotion to Duty and Right"
The secret of Washington's success lay in the strength of his character. Washington won the independence of the American states, not so much by what he knew or even what he did, but because of what he was.
Chapter 22: Sterling W. Sill
" A Lover of Books, A Seeker of Truth, and A Believer in Greatness"
Sill devoted every spare moment in his life to meeting the great heroes of the past through what he called the majesty of books, including Shakespeare and the Harvard classics. He always read with a pen in hand to mark and record ideas.
Conclusion
Each of should create our own Hall of Fame and place people in it that will inspire us to to upward reach.
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "A mind once stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimensions."
