The Master-Key to Riches: Money-making Principles of the Wealthy

by Napoleon Hill

The Master-Key to Riches, a powerful formula for self-improvement, shows you how to harness the powers of your will and mind so that you can achieve mental happiness, business success, spiritual vitality and financial superiority.
 
Millions of readers all over the world are grateful to Dr. Napoleon hill for his now classic Think and Grow Rich. The Master-Key to Riches provides the key to why some people become successful and how you can become one of them. The Master Keyis a marvelous device which, once discovered, may be used to:
Open the door to sound health
Reveal the method by which every disadvantage and disappointment can be turned into advantages of priceless value
Open the door to love and romance
Renew the spirit of youth
Lift humble men to positions of power, fame and fortune 
Based on the Andrew Carnegie formula for money making, The Master Key to Riches describes in step-by-step detail the greatest practical philosophy of success. “Riches means all riches—not merely those represented by bank balances and material things,” says Napoleon Hill in the introduction to this master-manual for personal achievement.
 
This amazing philosophy, culled from the success experiences of many of the world’s most powerful and wealthy men, will show you how to succeed in any path of life, whether it be love, wealth, personal satisfaction, faith, or any number of other goals.
 
The material woven by Napoleon Hill into The Master-Key to Riches has the endorsement of many men whose names have become synonymous with great achievement in the fields of industry, finance and statesmanship.

Genres: Business, Self Help, Personal Development, Nonfiction, Money, Personal Growth, Finance

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Oliver Napoleon Hill was an American self-help author and conman. He is best known for his book Think and Grow Rich (1937), which is among the best-selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted that fervid expectations are essential to improving one's life. Most of his books were promoted as expounding principles to achieve "success".
Hill is a controversial figure. Accused of fraud, modern historians also doubt many of his claims, such as that he met Andrew Carnegie and that he was an attorney.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man what an old book haha but definitely a classic.

Master Key to Riches goes hand in hand with Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich with similar themes.

This book was annoyingly repetitive and not well written and organized. It's a short book that could have been halved in size and added into Think and Grow Rich.

Themes: Definiteness of Purpose, willpower, self-discipline, habits, applied faith, consciousness, imagination, going the extra mile, control your emotions, put away bad negative thoughts, control your ego and don't let it get inflated.

To be a good loving wife to your husband, at the dinner table propose ideas and consult him about his day with interest and the relationship and his success will grow. Pretty sexist but this book can get away with it because it's old lol

[Wissal H · Rating 4 out of 5]

La richesse n'est pas toujours financière, mais il existe plusieurs types de richesse selon l'écrivain Napoleon Hill Ils sont de nombre 12.

La possession de l'argent ne possède pas de bonheur

La première est la base d'une vie stable et heureuse : l'attitude mentale Positive, origine de toute les richesses ❤️
La deuxième Une bonne santé physique 💜
Troisième L'harmonie avec les relations humaines 💙
Quatrième L'absence de peur (Peur de pauvreté critique la mort veillessement maladie ...)
Cinquième L'espoir 💚
Sixième La capacité de croire 🧡
Septième Volonté de partager 🤎
Huitième un travail qu'on aime🖤
Neuvième un esprit ouvert à tous les sujets💓
Dixième La discipline💛
La capacité de comprendre les autres : Comprendre les émotions et les désirs des autres : Amour, Peur 🖤
Et la dernière est la sécurité financière 💚

Ce passe partout ne peut fonctionner qu'une avec personnalité positive.

Chacun de nous possède deux personnalités : l'une est positive optimiste , l'autre est négatif et pessimiste.

La détermination est la clé de réussite personnelle et son moteur énergétique ❤️

Un ensemble des conseils et attitudes à prendre pour penser positivement et se concentrer sur tous ce qui est positif.

[Ramy · Rating 2 out of 5]

بمجرد بدئى ف كتاب ل نابليون هيل بيكون ف بالى ان الكتاب لن يخرج عن تقييم 3-4 من خمسة
الكتاب دا و عند نصه كنت مقرر انه 3 حلو اوى عليه
عند ثلاث ارباعه اكتشفت انه هياخد 2 ايا كان بقيته عامل ازاى

اللى قرا ل نابليون هيل 2-3 كتب هيعرف ان الكتاب ما هو الا نسخة مطولة ممطوطة من "فكر تصبح غنيا"

يصدف انى اقرا بالتوازى معه
الفشل البناء : تحويل الأخطاء إلى جسر للنجاح
و خلص قبل كتابنا دا لانه فعلا كان مفيد و ممتع معا

و كتاب
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
و اللى لسه مخلصسش بس واضح انه عملى و معاصر و مفيد و مكتوب بلغة شبابية لطيفة

و كتاب
The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life: 5 Timeless Secrets to Get Out and Stay Out of Financial Trouble
اللى مكتوب بروح حريمى بس برضه عملى وواقعى لحد ما و اللى قاربت على انهاؤه

كلهم خلصوا او فى تقدم جيد لانهم فعلا ممتعين و مفيدين
على عكس الهلك بتاع الحاج نابليون

الكتاب القادم : I Will Teach You To Be Rich

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very good book as well. It sets out to establish a philosophy not just merely for material success, but accomplishing goals both tangible and intangible. Its not some predominantly watered-downed hippy dippy sentimental, "you can do whatever you put your mind to" type of motivational book, although it has its moments. Rather this book elucidates on certain thoughts and actions; skills and virtues that ought to be and can be cultivated by anyone in order to succeed, thus making itself closer to the title of philosophy. Those who ought to read this book are numerous, but in the end the can be narrowed down to 3 People: (1) Those who find themselves looking to improve their life's situation, (2) Those whose lives up unto this moment are filled with hopeless failure, at the end of their rope, and (3) Those who want to help those who are at a low-point in their life.

[Christopher Lewis Kozoriz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Master-Key to Riches consists entirely in the greatest power known to man, the power of thought! You may take full possession of the Master-Key by taking possession of your own mind, through the strictest of self-discipline. ~ Napoleon Hill, The Master Key to Riches

As I stated in another review of Napoleon Hill's works, most of the wealthy, billionaires, millionaires all make reference or recommend Napoleon Hill's works. In fact it was Andrew Carnegie who commissioned Napoleon to take on the mission of bringing the laws of success to mankind. There are gold nuggests throughout this book, but all in all, Napoleon Hill shows us how our thoughts direct our lives like a rudder on a ship.

[Paul Mamani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book in a nutshell is a must read for anybody wanted to improve their lives. Regardless of what area you want to improve, Napoleon Hill shows the Master-Key works. Napoleon Hill died in 1970 at 87 years old. Thus the research he did was way ahead of his time. He profiled Andrew Carnegie who created U.S. Steel and mentored Charles Schwab. Andrew Carnegie commissioned Napoleon Hill to profile successful people to see if there was a pattern. This book along with Think and Grow Rich is a combination of that research.

Why is this important to me?

If I was spending my precious time listening to this video then the first question I would ask is - Why is this important to me?

This is important because Mr. Hill explains the 12 riches of life and how to achieve them. Are you where you want to be or do you need help defining true happiness? The study of the 12 riches and the Master-Key defined in this book will give you the blueprint for happiness.

The 12 Riches of Life are: 1. Positive Mental Attitude, 2. Sound Physical Health, 3. Harmony in Human Relationships, 4. Freedom from Fears, 5. The Hope of Achievements, 6. The Capacity of Faith, 7. Willingness to Share One's Blessings, 8. A labor of Loves, 9. An Open Mind on All Subjects, 10, Self-discipline, 11. The capacity to Understand People, 12. Economic Security.

All 12 riches are important but for the sake of time we will dig into three of them in this summary.

1. Positive Mental Attitude - Mental attitude is important because it converts the brain into the equivalent of an electro-magnet which attracts the counterpart of one's dominating thoughts, aims and purposes. It also attracts the counterpart of one's fears, worries and doubts. This basically means that you will manifest in your life that which you focus on regardless if it is positive or negative.

2. Sound Physical Health - This one is self-evident and should be number one. In my humble opinion, without health, you cannot create anything. Health is the ultimate gift because with it, everything else is possible. This can easily be taken for granted but once it is taken from you then life changes instantly. This needs to be a priority for everybody.

3. The Capacity to Understand People: The person who truly understands people knows that we all come from the same core. The nine emotions common, according to the book are: love, sex, desire of material gain, self-preservation, freedom from body and mind, self-expression, desire for perpetuation of life and death, anger and fear. The capacity to understand others eliminates many of the common causes of friction among men.

The Master-Key is a combination of 17 principles when used in combination will allow you to achieve the 12 Riches of Life.

The Master-Key consists of:

1) Habit of going the extra mile
2) Definiteness of Purpose
3) The Master mind
4) Applied Faith
5) Pleasing Personality
6) Habit of learning from defeat
7) Creative Vision
8) Personal Initiative
9) Accurate Thinking
10) Self-Discipline
11) Concentration of Endeavor
12) Co-operation
13) Enthusiasm
14) The Habit of Health
15) Budgeting Time and Money
16) Golden Rule Applied 17) Cosmic habit force.

For the sake of time we will profile three of the seventeen.

1. Definiteness of Purpose - Highly successful people have a defined purpose. Mother Teresa dedicated her life in helping the poor of Calcutta and through her definite purpose became world renowned and helped millions of people.

2. The Master Mind - is a group of people that have expertise that can be leveraged toward your defined purpose. Leveraging the combined OPE (Other People's expertise) gives a compound effect to the desired result.

3. Habit going the Extra Mile - I like this one because the 12 Riches of Life can NOT be attained without hard, smart and right work. You have to do the thing to have the power!!!! Notice this is the HABIT of going the extra mile. Ingrain this in your mind and you will not be disappointed with the results.

I hope you have found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit.

Habits form in as little as 21 days. I highly recommend you read this book and put the principles in place. To take one thing away from the summary and make it habit will be the "Habit of Going the Extra Mile". Put this front and center and it will help you in everything you do.

According to Mr. Hill, Going the extra mile by doing more than one is paid for - "It is the strange influence which it has on the person who does it. The greatest benefit from this habit does not come to those to whom the service is rendered. It comes to the one who renders the service, in the form of a changed "mental attitude," which gives him more influence with other people, more self-reliance, greater initiative, more enthusiasm, more vision and definiteness of purpose. Do the thing and you shall have the power!!!!

[Jason Wicky Ong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written by Napoleon Hill as opposed to the other one, 17 Principles for Key to Success, which is written by Napoleon Hill FOUNDATION.

I think this book articulates his thoughts clearly and emphasize his more favourable principles with more 'airtime'. It also talks about the 17 Principles for Success.

[Justice Mandhla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another classic book written in 1910 by Napoleon Hill. This book teaches a phylosophy of personal achievement in all areas of life; health, relationships, wealth,self-discipline, goal setting and more.
A good read if you are into personal development phylosophy.

[Paul Bard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Self-discipline is the master key to riches.

Most useful seems to be the "Creed for self-discipline" at the end.

[Masood Akhtar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all other books of Napoleon Hill, this one too is a great book and must read for anyone looking for Success and riches in life.

[Boukman Bastia]

A brilliant book, it has too much value and stories to help us develop ourselves and our minds to our fullest potential. This is one of those books we have to come back to again and again throughout our lives. It is a living text.

[Michael leon]

oh this one there is so much to learn from. will be reading this one multiple times as it just that exciting to read.

[Eliomax · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Excellent.

[Laura Nicolae · Rating 3 out of 5]

O carte de dezvoltare personală scrisă în 1910. Nu știu exact care au fost începuturile cărților de dezvoltare personală, dar probabil că aceasta se apropie de ele. Mi-a plăcut simplitatea în care au fost descrise principiile care ajută la crearea succesului în viață, deoarece cărțile mai moderne par să complice niște idei care sunt, la bază, simple și care mai toate seamănă între ele în cărțile de acest tip. Pe scurt, bogățiile unui om în viață și cheia sucesului, conform lui Napoleon Hill, sunt:

1. O gândire pozitivă
2. Obiceiul de a face întotdeauna un efort în plus și nu doar minimul necesar
3. Definirea scopului pe care dorești să îl îndeplinești în viață
4. Mintea călăuzitoare sau capacitatea de a fi deschis la ceilalți și de a învăța de la ei
5. Practicarea credinței
6. O personalitate plăcută
7. Deprinderea de a învăța din eșec
8. O viziune creatoare
9. Inițiativă personală
10. O gândire exactă sau o gândire clară, bazată pe rațiune
11. Autodisciplina ca rezultat al unor obiceiuri stabilite și menținute cu grijă, la care se ajunge uneori după ani de efort
12. Concentrarea efortului ca rezultat al voinței și autodisciplinei
13. Cooperarea
14. Entuziasmul
15. Obiceiul de a te îngriji de sănătatea ta și de a fi sănătos prin dezvoltarea unor obiceiuri care să te mențină astfel
16. Planificarea timpului și a banilor
17. Forța obișnuinței sau aplicarea consecventă a celor de mai sus astfel încât ele să devină obișnuință.

Dintre acestea, gândirea pozitivă și autodisciplina sunt subliniate ca fiind cele mai importante. Autodisciplina se aplică mai ales voinței, sentimentelor, rațiunii, imaginației, conștiinței și memoriei, pe care omul trebuie să le stăpânească pentru a nu fi stăpânit de ele și trebuie să le direcționeze în așa fel încât acestea să conlucreze armonios.

[Jerome Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A testament to the power and potential of the human mind. A message for people to pave their way through life by adopting these powerful perspectives. That the only thing we have in our definite control is our thoughts and mental attitude. That the attitude we adopt can alter our ascension or determine our dissension in life. Recommend to those who seek to awaken more of their inner aliveness, and find even more faith with personal fulfillment.

[PG "I ain't finna read that" · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great guide on how to use your mind, but where TAGR focusses the supernatural-made-banal powers of thought this book stresses a healthy ego as the powerhouse of all willful and subconscious activities. I think this book balances the philosophy and helps make it practically understandable.

[McQueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, repetition is the key to forming new habits, but I feel unnecessarily beaten about the head to the point where I'm wondering if MK-Ultra surreptitiously infiltrated my brain.

Napoleon Hill is a God (I think MK-Ultra made me say that) and this book goes into more detail than Think and Grow Rich, but if you've read the latter then that's probably enough--your get the gist.

[Omer lavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly believe that I don't understand the book completely,
I remember when i first read the book "think and grow rich" I wasn't ready mentally to gain the knowledge from it, and i hated it because I couldn't understand it, then, a few years went by, and in these years i have learned a lot about manifesting and decided to try it again, I understood it completely. Perhaps its the same situation,

*i didnt read the last chapter, I could not stand it anymore. Over and over he brought the experience of Andrew Carnegie, it was so repetitive i had to stop and skip it.

The author goes out of his way to fill up the pages of the book, instead of actually explaining and making the point he takes us as reads through so many different sentences that goes around it.

[Budge Burgess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter gibberish, first published 1945 ... and, from the outset, it’s a disturbing work. Napoleon Hill was a conman, fraud, liar, served time in prison, and populated his squalid little life with fictional associations with the rich and powerful. He was also, I suspect, not merely delusional, there are numerous passages in his books which suggest psychosis or disorder.
Hill’s books are turgid, boring nonsense – yet they continue to be sold, products of a disingenuous marketing exercise aimed at convincing readers Hill was a significant figure who wrote something worth reading. It’s an Emperor’s New Clothes phenomenon: the moment someone points out that the writing is barren (or the Emperor naked), everyone can recognise the farce.
Hill describes the incoherent, often unreadable drivel in his books as ‘philosophy’: Hill was a man of limited education and intellect but unlimited pretensions – he had nothing to say, but takes time saying it, broadcasting his ignorance by celebrating his ‘genius’.
Read the ‘Prologue’ to this book and you have to question Hill’s sanity – his tone, language, the incoherent message delivered with self-congratulatory embellishment. It’s the ego trip of an inadequate caught up in his own disturbed fantasy world.
Do not believe anything he writes. His fame (or notoriety) rests on the delusion that he spent three days interviewing Carnegie (then the richest man in the world) in New York, autumn 1908. He develops this lie here but doesn’t really fully elaborate on it until 1953 with his ‘Wisdom of Andrew Carnegie’. He never met Carnegie – in autumn, 1908, Carnegie was in his Scottish home, Skibo Castle, not New York.
Hill does mention Skibo Castle in this book – he tells the tale of an elderly woman who seeks shelter from a storm in a large American store. She is treated with courtesy by one of the shop staff and rewards him by taking him to Scotland – several hundred thousand dollars of furnishings are required to outfit Skibo Castle. The shop assistant advises her, takes the order and earns a partnership in the shop for what had started as a simple act of courtesy and kindness. The woman, it transpires, was Carnegie’s mother.
And this is typical Hill, for Carnegie’s mother, Margaret, died in November, 1886. Carnegie didn’t take out a lease on Skibo Castle until 1897, buying it the following year. Substantial repairs and alterations were, indeed, required, and must have attracted widespread press coverage (people were fascinated by Carnegie). Hill’s fantasy about Margaret Carnegie is, like virtually everything else he wrote, utter bullshit.
Hill delivers anecdotes and stories by the dozen – they’re fantasies, fabrications, outright lies. Hill was a conman and fraud, he served at least one prison sentence yet pretends he was working in the White House as confidante to the president at that time.
He represents himself as giving lecture tours – you imagine vast halls filled with an attentive audience, like some pop diva selling out a tour. In fact, he gave sales pitches in the back rooms of bars or wherever was available – it’s the Depression, and his audience is small groups of unemployed people, poorly paid people, people whose jobs were threatened, desperate for some hope, some assurance they can escape and find security, maybe even make a name for themselves.
And Hill would sell them fantasies, a ticket to hear him speak, maybe sell them a book or sign them up to a correspondence course. What he was really selling was his ego. I see him as a sleazy little man, maybe looking to pick up a female member of the audience, find a bed for the night (he met his second wife when she attended one of his ‘lectures’). I really do get this image of him as a manipulative little man on the make.
There are clips of film of him on the Internet – it’s not a voice you can enjoy hearing, he’s hardly an inspiring speaker, hardly an inspiring personality … but his audiences were desperate and he’d have developed a degree of celebrity in his role selling lectures and magazines and books and courses and lies … and desperate people will buy in to a con, will see only the New Clothes, not the nakedness of the Emperor.
So here, in 1945, Hill assures the reader that his ‘Master Key to Riches’ “should unlock the doors to the solution of all of your problems”, converting all past failures into “priceless assets” and the attainment of “twelve great riches, including economic security”.
Life is shit, you want so much more out of life, you need to escape the hole you’re in – and this clown offers a solution to all your problems? ALL your problems? If you’re reading this dross and imagining it offers a way out of whatever you want to escape, you really need to get out more.
Consider Chapter 2, Hill’s ‘Sermon on the Mount’ – some guru tells the world about a ‘Master Key’ which delivers the ‘Twelve Great Riches of Life’ to people who have attained the ‘Degree of Fellowship’ … ‘science’ has revealed that every person possesses a negative personality and a positive personality … and possibly multiple personalities.
There’s something really psychotic about Hill’s language, you can sense a mind which is not comfortable with itself – note the ‘multiple personalities’. But this need to name things and number them and establish formulae, it’s the language of a man with limited intellect, a man who has to make thought a mechanical, join-the-dots process, a man unable to understand complexity, unable to deconstruct the politics, psychology and sociology of philosophical thinking.
It’s a man of limited education, unqualified for the professions or any leadership role, a mediocrity who desperately aspires to be someone, to pose as some great intellect. I keep wondering if he was bullied as a child – if the driving force behind this dross is a need to hide behind and within an armoured barrier of celebrity? His is the voice of a man seeking escape from ordinariness.
And yet Hill keeps using the term ‘philosophy’ – he sees it as a set of rules, as mechanistic, not as a deconstruction of complexity. His simplistic vision of what constitutes 'philosophy' is a real giveaway. He has limited intellect, but few limits to his ego.
The greatest of all riches, he asserts, is a positive mental attitude ... and health .. and harmony ... and freedom from the seven basic fears ... and hope of achievement ... and the capacity for faith … etc. It’s almost a Monty Python script.
And it gets worse.
Absolute garbage with not one iota of useful advice. If you’ve got problems in life, if you feel you want something different, something better, then find someone with whom you can talk, someone who isn’t trying to sell you something, and don’t waste your time and money on the likes of this.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic of the genre. It was interesting to see some of the origins of different philosophies but listening to this on audiobook became challenging toward the end. Plus some the 1965-era viewpoints and perspectives can be distracting if not offensive to some readers. I appreciated the book, definitely got value, but would not recommend the audiobook version.

[erica a · Rating 5 out of 5]

book is filled with gems, however I would not read this book until you have read think and grow rich as this book builds on what you read there.

I love napoleon hills emphasis on becoming wealthy, or the best has nothing to do with money. He takes a stand that if you align your mind with the twelves riches of life with a huge emphasis on self-discipline everything you desire: wealth fame success etc will follow because you have created a mindset, a work ethic and an outlook that will generate those thing.

there is so much to say but the one main take away is please read this book!

[Frank · Rating 1 out of 5]

Zero stars. Hill tries to use overly complex sentence structure to add drama and verity to his argument. His arguments do not contain any profundity. I read this book because it was on my bookshelf for years and so many had reviewed it favourably that I thought I should read it.

Lately, I have been VERY disappointed and shocked at the number of books I have read that turned out to be crap but were given great reviews. This book is one of them.

[Samar Sisodia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece!

To every reader, I would recommend not to miss a single book of Napolean Hill.

Read them again and again.

Do not just read. Grasp them and form an actionable plan to bring about change in your life!

[Katka · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a really nice book about spiritually growing but mostly focused on a marketing and business. How to success in business. Which are the most important properties to have and start a successfully business. Book was not hard to understand and helped me in a lot of things.

[Jill Whelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful book that will help you define your purpose in life. I would recommend it to anyone who is ready to think a little!

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Napoleon Hill's expansion on the key concepts that form the cornerstone of his philosophy from 'Think and Grow Rich.'

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing book.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not as good as Think and Grow Rich.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book giving guidance on how to be truly successful i.e., internally and externally. I believe Og Mandino was inspired by Napolean Hill when he wrote "The Greatest Miracle in the World".

[Tim Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow. Life-changing!