Pushing to the Front

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From the BUSINESS section: Pushing to the Front


Orison Swett Marden

“The world does not demand that you be a lawyer, minister, doctor, farmer, scientist or merchant; it does not dictate what you shall do, but it does require that you be a master in whatever you undertake.”

- Orison Swett Marden

No, those aren’t the words from the latest bestselling business book on success and motivation; in fact they were written in 1894 and appear in Orison Swett Marden’s book called Pushing to the Front.

It’s a type of self-help book and uses success stories of real people to illustrate his two main points: overcoming adversity and the importance of persistence.

“Show me a really great triumph that is not the reward of persistence,” he wrote.

Talk about persistence! Just look at Marden’s life. He was born in 1850 and both of his parents died before he was seven years old. But that didn’t stop him from going to college and getting a Law degree from Boston University and a Medical degree from Harvard.

He was also a prolific writer, averaging two books per year.

Marden includes stories about people who overcame adversity on their way to success. Some people include Sir Walter Raleigh, who wrote The History of the World during his 13-year imprisonment and Ulysses S. Grant.

General Grant lost an early battle in the American Civil War and almost every major newspaper in the United States demanded his replacement.

President Lincoln responded by saying, “I can’t spare this man. He fights.”

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Vocabulary:

To undertake. Emprender

To overcome. Superar

To spare. Prescindir de

Published by: Drew Crosby