Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill, nineteen thirty eight, Chapter four, Drifting
with the Devil. Tell me first about your most clever trick, the one
you use to ensnare the greatest number of people. If you force me to
give away this secret, it will mean my loss of millions of people now
living in still greater numbers of millions as yet unborn. I beg of you
permit me to pass this one question unanswered. So, his majesty the Devil
fears a mere, humble earth bound creature? Is that right? It is
not right, but it is true. You have no right to rob me
of my most necessary tool of trade. For millions of years, I have
dominated earth bound creatures through fear and ignorance. Now you come along and would
destroy my use of these weapons by forcing me to tell how I use them?
Do you not realize that you will break my grip on every person who
heeds this confession you are forcing from me? Have you no mercy? Have
you no sense of humor? Have you no sportsmanship? Stop stalling and start
confessing. Who are you to ask mercy of one whom you would destroy if
you could? Who are you to talk of sportsmanship and a sense of humor,
you who, by your own confession, have set up a living hell
on earth where you punish innocent people through their fears and ignorance. As for
minding my own business, that is just what I am doing when I force
you to tell how you control people through their own minds. My business,
if it can be called a business, is helping to unlock the doors of
the self made prisons in which men and women are confined because of the fears
you have planted in their minds. My greatest weapon over human beings consists of
two secret principles by which I gain control of their minds. I will speak
first of the principle of habit, through which I silently enter the minds of
people. By operating through this principle, I establish I wish I could avoid
using this word, the habit of drifting. When a person begins to drift
on any subject, he is headed straight toward the gates of what you earth
bound call hell. Describe all the ways in which you induce people to drift,
Define the word, and tell us exactly what you mean by it.
I can best define the word drift by saying that people who think for themselves
never drift, while those who do little or no thinking for themselves are drifters.
A drifter is one who permits himself to be influenced and controlled by circumstances
outside of his own mind. He would rather let me occupy his mind and
do his thinking than go to the trouble of thinking for himself. A drifter
is one who accepts whatever life throws in his way without making a protest or
putting up a fight. He doesn't know what he wants from life and spends
all of his time getting just that. A drifter has lots of opinions,
but they are not his own. Most of them are supplied by me.
A drifter is one who is too lazy mentally to use his own brain.
That is the reason I can take control of people's thinking and plant my own
ideas in their minds. I think I understand what a drifter is. Tell
me the exact habits of people by which you induce them to drift through life.
Start by telling me when and how you first gain control of a person's
mind. My control over the mind of a human being is obtained while the
person is young. Sometimes I lay the foundation for my control of a mind
before the owner of it is born, by manipulating the minds of that person's
parents. Sometimes I go further back than this and prepare people for my control
through what you earth bound call physical heredity. You see, therefore, I
have two approaches to the mind of a person. Yes, go on and
describe these two doors by which you enter and control the minds of human beings.
As I have stated, I help to bring people into your world with
weak brains by giving to them before birth as many as possible of the weaknesses
of their ancestors. You call this principle physical heredity. After people are born,
I make use of what you earth bound call environment as a means of
controlling them. This is where the principle of habit enters. The mind is
nothing more than the sum total of one's habits. I won by one.
I enter the mind and establish habits which lead finally to my absolute domination of
the mind. Tell me of the most common habits by which you control the
minds of people. That is one of my cleverest tricks. I enter the
minds of people through thoughts which they believe to be their own. Those most
useful to me are fear superstition, avarice, greed, lust, revenge,
anger, vanity, and plain laziness. Through one or more of these,
I can enter any mind at any age. But I get my best results
when I take charge of a mind while it is young, before its owner
has learned how to close any of these nine doors. Then I can set
up habits which keep the door's ajar forever. I am catching on to your
methods. Now, let us go back to the habit of drifting. Tell
us all about that habit, since you say it is your cleverest trick in
controlling the minds of people. As I said before, I start people drifting
during their youth, I induce them to drift through school without knowing what occupation
they wish to follow in life. Here I catch the majority of people.
Habits are related drift in one direction, and soon you will be drifting in
all directions. I also use environmental habits to give me a definite grip on
my victims. I see you make it your business to train children in the
habit of drifting by inducing them to go through school without aim or purpose.
Now tell me of some of your other tricks with which you cause people to
become drifters. Well, my second best trick in developing the habit of drifting
is one that I put into operation with the aid of parents and public school
teachers and religious instructors. I warn you not to force me to mention this
trick. Do not disclose this trick. If you do so, you will
be hated by my co workers who help me use this trick. If you
publish this confession in book form, your book will be barred from the public
schools. It will be blacklisted by most of the religious leaders. It will
be hidden from children by many parents. The newspapers will not dare to give
reviews of your book. Millions of people will hate you for writing the book.
In fact, no one will like you or your book except those who
think, and you know how very few there are of this sort. My
advice to you is to let me skip the description of my second best trick.
So for my own good, you wish to withhold the description of your
second best trick. No one will like my book except those who think,
Eh, very well, go ahead and answer. You'll regret this, mister
Earthbound, But the joke is on you. By this mistake of yours,
you will divert attention from me to yourself. My coworkers, of whom there
are millions, will forget about me and hate you for uncovering my methods.
Never mind about me, tell me all about this second best trick of yours
with which you induce people to drift with you to hell. My second best
trick is not second at all. It is first. It is first because
without it I never could gain control of the minds of the youths. Parents,
school teachers, religious instructors, and many other adults unknowingly serve my purpose
by helping me to destroy in children the habit of thinking for themselves. They
go about their work in various ways, never suspecting what they are doing to
the minds of children or the real cause of the children's mistakes. I can
hardly believe you, your majesty. I have always believed that children's best friends
were those closest to them, their parents, their school teachers, and their
religious inns instructors. Where would children go for dependable guidance if not to those
who have charge of them. That is where my cleverness comes in. There
is the exact explanation of how I control ninety eight percent of the people of
the world. I take possession of people during their youth, before they come
into possession of their own minds, by using those who are in charge of
them. I especially need the help of those who give children their religious instruction,
because it is here that I break down independent thought and start people on
the habit of drifting by confusing their minds with unprovable ideas concerning a world of
which they know nothing. It is here also that I plant in the minds
of children the greatest of all fears, the fear of hell. I understand
that it is easy for you to frighten children with threats of hell, But
how do you continue to make them fear you and your hell after they grow
up and learn to think for themselves. Children grow up, but they do
not always learn to think for themselves. Once I capture the mind of a
child through fear, I weaken that child's ability to reason and to think for
himself, and that weakness goes with the child all through life. Is that
not taking unfair advantage of a human being by contaminating his mind before he comes
into full possession of it. Everything is fair that I can use to further
my ends. I have no foolish limitations of right and wrong. Might is
right with me. I use every known human weakness to gain and keep control
of the human mind. I understand your devilish nature. Now let us get
back to further discussion of your methods of inducing people to drift to hell here
on earth. From your confession, I see that you take charge of children
while their minds are young and pliable. Tell me more of how you use
parents, teachers, and religious leaders to ensnare people into drifting. One of
my favorite tricks is to coordinate the efforts of parents and religious instructors so they
work together in helping me to destroy the children's power to think for themselves.
I use many religious instructors to undermine the courage and power of independent thought of
children by teaching them to fear me. But I use parents to aid the
religious leaders in this great work of mine. How do parents help religious leaders
destroy their children's power to think for themselves? I never heard of such a
monstrosity. I accomplish this through a very clever trick. I cause the parents
to teach their children to believe as the parents do in connection with religion,
politics, marriage, and other important subjects. In this way, as you
can see. When I gain control of the mind of a person, I
can easily perpetuate the control by causing that person to help me fasten it upon
the minds of his offspring. In what other ways do you use parents to
convert children into drifters. I cause children to become drifters by following the example
of their parents, most of whom I have already taken over and bound eternally
to my cause. In some parts of the world, I gain mastery over
children's minds and subdue there will power in exactly the same way that men break
and subdue animals of lower intelligence. It makes no difference to me how a
child's will is subdued. As long as it fears something, I will enter
its mind through that fear and limit the child's power to think independently. It
seems that you go out of your way to keep people from thinking. Yes,
accurate thought is death to me. I cannot exist in the minds of
those who think accurately. I do not mind people thinking as long as they
think in terms of fear, discouragement, hopelessness, and destructiveness. When they
begin to think in constructive terms of faith, courage, hope, and definiteness
of purpose, they immediately become allies of my opposition, and are therefore lost
to me. I am beginning to understand how you gain control of the minds
of children through the help of their parents and religious instructors. But I do
not see how the school teachers help you in this damnable work. School teachers
help me gain control of the minds of children, not so much by what
they teach the children as because of what they do not teach them. The
entire public school system is so administered that it helps my cause by teaching children
almost everything except how to use their own minds and think independently. I live
in fear that some day some courageous person will reverse the present system of school
teaching and deal my cause a death blow by allowing the students to become the
instructors, using those who now serve as teachers only as guides to help the
children establish ways and means of developing their own minds from within. When that
time comes, the school teachers will no longer belong to my staff. I
was under the impression that the purpose of all schooling was to help children to
think. That may be the purpose of schooling, but the system in most
of the schools of the world does not carry out the purpose. School Children
are taught not to develop and use their own minds, but to adopt and
use the thoughts of others. This sort of schooling destroys the capacity for independent
thought, except in a few rare cases where children rely so definitely upon their
own will power that they refuse to allow others to do their thinking. Accurate
thought is the business of my opposition, not mine What relationship, if any,
has your opposition with the homes, the churches, and the schools.
Your reply to this question should be interesting. Here is where I make use
of some more of my clever tricks. I cause it to appear that everything
done by the parents, the school teachers, and the religious instructors is being
done by my opposition. This diverts attention from me while I manipulate the minds
of the young. When religious instructors try to teach children the virtues of my
opposition, they generally do so by frightening them with my name. That is
all I ask of them. I kindle the flame of fear into proportions which
destroy the child's power to think accurately. In the public schools, The teachers
further my cause by keeping the children so busy cramming non essential information into their
minds, they have no opportunity to think accurately or to analyze correctly the things
their instructors teach them. Do you claim for your cause all those who are
bound by the habit of drifting? No, drifting is only one of my
tricks through which I take over the power of independent thought. Before a drifter
becomes my permanent property, I must lead him on and ensnare him with another
trick. I will tell you about this other trick after I finish describing my
methods of converting people into drifters. Do you mean you have a method by
which you can cause people to drift so far away from self determination that they
can never save themselves. Yes, a definite method, and it is so
effective it never fails. Do I understand you to claim your method is so
powerful your opposition cannot reclaim those whom you have permanently ensnared through drifting. I
claim just that. Do you think I would control so many people if my
opposition could prevent me. Nothing can stop me from controlling people except people themselves.
Nothing can stop me except the power of accurate thought. People who think
accurately do not drift on any subject. They recognize the power of their own
minds. Moreover, they take over that power and yield it to no person
or influence. Go ahead and tell me more of the methods by which you
cause people to drift. To hell with you. I cause people to drift
on every subject through which I can control independent thought and action. Take the
subject of health, for example, I cause most people to eat too much
food and the wrong sort of food. This leads to indigestion and destroys the
power of accurate thought. If the public schools and the churches taught children more
about proper eating, they would do my cause irreparable damage. Marriage. I
cause men and women to drift into marriage without plan or purpose, designed to
convert the relationship into harmony. Here is one of my most effective methods of
converting people into the habit of drifting. I cause married people to bicker and
nag one another over money matters. I cause them to quarrel over the bringing
up of their children. I engage them in unpleasant controversies over their intimate relationships,
and in disagreements over friends and social activities. I keep them so busy
finding fault with one another that they never have time to do anything else long
enough to break the habit of drifting occupation. I teach people to become drifters
by causing them to drift out of school into the first job they can find,
with no definite aim or purpose except to make a living. Through this
trick, I keep millions of people in fear of poverty all their lives.
Through this fear, I lead them slowly but surely onward until they reach the
point beyond which no individual ever has broken. The drifting habit savings. I
cause people to spend freely and to save sparingly or not at all until I
take complete control of them. Through their fear of poverty environment, I cause
people to drift into inharmonious and unpleasant environments in the home, in their places
of occupation, in their relationship with relatives and acquaintances, and to remain there
until I claim them. Through the habit of drifting dominating thoughts, I cause
people to drift into the habit of thinking negative thoughts. This leads to negative
acts and involves people in controversies and fills their minds with fears, thus paving
the way for me to enter and control their minds. When I move in,
I do so by appealing to people through negative thoughts, which they believe
to be their own. I plant the seeds of negative thought in the minds
of people through the pulpit, the newspapers, the moving pictures, the radio,
and all other popular methods of appeal to the mind. I cause people
to allow me to do their thinking for them, because they are too lazy
and too indifferent to think for themselves. I conclude from what you say that
drifting and procrastination are the same. Is that true? Yes, that is
correct. Any habit which causes one to procrastinate, to put off reaching a
definite decision leads to the habit of drifting. Is man the only creature who
drifts? Yes? All other creatures move in response to definite laws of nature.
Man alone defies nature's laws and drifts when he wills. Everything outside the
minds of men is controlled by my opposition, by laws so definite that drifting
is impossible. I control the minds of men solely because of their habit of
drifting, which is only another way of saying that I control the minds of
men only because they neglect or refuse to control and use their own minds.
This is getting to be pretty deep stuff for a mere human being. Let
us get back to the discussion of something less abstract. Please tell me how
this drifting habit affects people in the everyday walks of life, and tell me
in terms of the average person can understand. I would prefer to keep this
interview up among the stars, no doubt you would. That would save you
from being exposed. But let us come back to earth. Tell me now
what drifting is doing to us as a nation here in the United States.
Frankly, I may as well tell you that I hate the United States as
only the devil can hate. That is interesting. What is the cause of
this hatred? The cause was born on July fourth, seventeen seventy six,
when fifty six men signed a document which destroyed my chances of controlling the nation.
You know that document as the Declaration of Independence. Had it not been
for the influence of that damnable document, I would now have a dictator running
the country, and I would stop this rite to free speech and independent thought
that is threatening my rule on earth. Am I to understand from what you
say that nations controlled by self appointed dictators belong in your camp. There are
no self appointed dictators. I appoint them all. Moreover, I manipulate them
and direct them in their work. Nations run by my dictators know what they
want and take it by force. Look what I have done through Mussolini in
Italy. Look what I am doing through Hyder in Germany. Look what I
am doing through Stalin in Russia. My dictators run those nations for me because
the people have been subdued through the habit of drifting. My dictators do no
drifting. That is why they rule for me. The millions of people under
their control. What would happen if Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler turn traitors
and disavowed you and your rule. That will not happen because I have them
too well bribed. I am paying each of them with the soop of his
own vanity, by making him believe he is acting on his own account.
That is another trick of mine. Let us come back to the United States
and learn something of what you are doing to convert people into the habit of
drifting. Right now, I am paving the way for a dictatorship by sowing
the seeds of fear and uncertainty in the minds of the people. Through whom
are you carrying on your work? Mainly through the President. I am destroying
his influence with the people by causing him to drift on the question of a
working agreement between employers and their employees. If I can induce him to drift
for another year, he will be so thoroughly discredited. I can hand over
the country to a dictator. If the President continues to drift, I will
paralyze personal freedom in the United States, just as I destroyed it in Spain,
Italy, Germany and England. What you say leads me to the conclusion
that drifting is a weakness which inevitably ends in failure, whether among individuals or
nations. Is that your claim drifting is the most common cause of failure in
every walk of life. I can control anyone whom I can induce to form
the habit of drifting on any subject. The reason for this is twofold.
First, the drifter is just so much putty in my hands to be molded
into whatever pattern I choose, because drifting destroys the power of individual initiative.
Second, the drifter cannot get help from my opposition, because the opposition is
not attracted to anything so soft and useless. Is that why a few people
are wealthy while the majority of people are poor. That is exactly the reason.
Poverty, like physical illness, is a contagious disease. You find it
always among the drifters, never among those who know what they want and are
determined to get just that. Ellet may mean something to you when I call
your attention to the fact that the non drifters, whom I do not control,
and those who possess most of the wealth of the world, happen to
be the same people. I have always understood that money was the root of
all evil, that the poor and the meek would inherit heaven, while the
wealthy would pass into your hands. What have you to say of that claim?
Men who know how to get the material things of life generally know how
to keep out of the hands of the devil as well. The ability to
acquire things is contagious. Drifters acquire nothing except that which no one else wants.
If more people had definite aims and stronger desires for material and spiritual riches,
I would of fewer victims. I assume from what you say that you
do not claim fellowship with the industrial leaders. Evidently they are not friends of
yours friends of mine. I'll tell you what sort of friends of mine they
are. They have belted the entire country with good roads, thus bringing into
close communion the people of both city and country. They have converted ores into
steel, with which they have built the skeletons of great skyscrapers. They have
harnessed electrical power and converted it into a thousand uses, all designed to give
man time to think. They have provied, through the automobile, personal transportation
to the humbler citizen, thus giving to everyone the freedom of travel. They
have provided every home with instantaneous news of what is happening in all parts of
the world through the aid of the radio. They have reared libraries in every
city, town, and hamlet, and have filled them with books, giving
to all who read a complete outline of the most useful knowledge mankind has gathered
from his experiences. They have given the humblest citizen the right to express his
own opinion on any subject, any time, anywhere, without fear of molestation.
And they have seen to it that every citizen may help make his own
laws. Levy his own taxes and manage his own country through the ballot.
These are but some of the things the industrial leaders have done to give every
citizen the privilege of becoming a non drifter. Do you think these men have
helped my cause? Who are some of the present day non drifters over whom
you have no control? I have control over no non drifter present or past.
I control the week, not those who think for themselves. Go ahead
and describe a typical drifter. Give your description point by points, so I
can recognize a drifter when I see him. The first thing you will notice
about a drifter is his total lack of a major purpose in life. He
will be conspicuous by his lack of self confidence. He will never accomplish anything
requiring thought and effort. He spends all he earns and more too if he
can get credit. He will be sick or ailing from some real or imaginary
cause and calling to high heaven. If he suffers the least physical pain,
he will have little or no imagination. He will lack enthusiasm and initiative to
begin anything he is not forced to undertake, and he will plainly express his
weakness by taking the line of least resistance whenever he can do so. He
will be ill tempered and lacking in control over his emotions. His personality will
be without magnetism, and it will not attract other people. He will have
a pain onions on everything, but accurate knowledge of nothing. He may be
jack of all trades, but good at none. He will neglect to co
operate with those around him, even those on whom he must depend for food
and shelter. He will make the same mistake over and over again, never
profiting by failure. He will be narrow minded and intolerant on all subjects,
ready to crucify those who may disagree with him. He will expect everything of
others, but be willing to give little or nothing in return. He may
begin many things, but he will complete nothing. He will be loud in
his condemnation of his government, but he will never tell you definitely how it
can be improved. He will never reach decisions on anything if he can avoid
it, and if he is forced to decide, he will reverse himself at
the first opportunity. He will eat too much and exercise too little. He
will take a drink of liquor if some one else will pay for it.
He will gamble if he can do it on the cuff. He will criticize
others who are succeeding in their chosen calling. In brief, the drifter will
work harder to get out of thinking than most others work in earning a good
living. He will tell a lie rather than admit his ignorance on any subject.
If he works for others, he will criticize them to their backs and
flatter them to their faces. You have given, please now describe him on
sight me a graphic description of the drifter the non drifter, so that I
may recognize. The first sign of a non drifter is this. He is
always engaged in doing something definite through some well organized plan which is definite.
He has a major goal in life toward which he is always working, and
many minor goals, all of which lead toward his central scheme. The tone
of his voice, the quickness of his step, the sparkle in his eyes,
the quickness of his decisions clearly mark him as a person who knows exactly
what he wants and is determined to get it, no matter how long it
may take or what price he must pay. If you ask him questions,
he gives you direct answers and never falls back on evasions or resorts to subterfuge.
He extends many favors to others, but accepts favors sparingly or not at
all. He will be found up front, whether he is playing a game
or fighting a war. If he does not know the answers, he will
say so frankly. He has a good memory, never offers an alibi for
his shortcomings. He never blames others for his mistakes, no matter if they
deserve the blame. He used to be known as a go getter, but
in modem times he is called a go giver. You will find him running
the biggest business in town, living on the best street, driving the best
automobile, and making his presence felt wherever he happens to be. He is
an inspiration to all who come into contact with his mind. The major distinguishing
feature of the non drifter is this he has a mind of his own and
uses it for all purposes. Is the non drifter born with some mental,
physical, or spiritual advantage not available to the drifter. No, The major
difference between the drifter and the non drifter is something equally available to both.
It is simply the prerogative right of each to use his own mind and think
for himself. Pound what brief message would you send to the typical drifter if
you wish to cure him of this evil habit? I would admonish him to
wake up and give give what some form of service useful to as many people
as possible. So the non drifter is supposed to give, is he yes,
ife expects to get, and he must give before he gets. Some
people doubt that you exist. I wouldn't worry about that if I were you.
Those who are ready to be converted from the habit of drifting will recognize
the authenticity of this interview by its soundness of counsel. The others are not
worth the trouble it would take to convert them. Why do you not try
to stop me from publishing this confession? I am ringing from you because that
would be the surest of all ways to guarantee you will publish it. I
have a better plan than trying to suppress publication of my confession. I will
urge you to go ahead with the publication. Then sit back and watch you
suffer when some of my faithful drifters begin to make things hot for you,
I will not need to deny your story. My followers will do that for
me. See if they don't