Logo Horizontal

Book Extract: How To Win Friends And Influence People – Smile by Dale Carnegie

 

Smile

Peruse this bit of sage advice from Elbert Hubbard – but remember, persuing it won’t do you any good unluess you apply it:

“Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carrry the crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every hand-clasp. Do not fear being misunderstood and do not waste a minute thinking about your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do; and then, without veering of direction, you will move straight to the goal. Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do, and then, as the days go gliding by you will find yourself unconsciously seizing upon the opportunities that are required for the fulfilment of your desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the elements it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual… Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude – the attitude of courage, frankness, and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire, and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head high. We are gods in the chrysalis.”

The ancient Chinese are a wise lot – wise in the ways of the world; and they have a proverb that you and I ought to cut out and paste inside our hats. It goes like this:

“A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.”

And speaking of shops, Frank Irving Fletcher, in one of his advertisements for Oppenheim, Collins & Co., gave us this bit of homely philosophy.

 

THE VALUE OF A SMILE AT CHRISTMAS

It costs nothing but creates much.

It enriches those who receive, and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.

None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits.

It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a business, and is the countersign of friends.

It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and Nature’s best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anybody till it is given away!

And if in the last-minute rush of Christmas buying some of our salespeople should be too tired to give you a smile, may we ask you to leave one of your yours?

For nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none left to give!

So, if you want people to like you, Rule 2 is:

SMILE!

 

Buy Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends And Influence People here

Bernardo Moya

Bernardo is the founder of The Best You, author of The Question, Find Your True Purpose, an entrepreneur, writer, publisher, TV producer and seminar promoter to some of the biggest names in Personal Development. He is editor-in-chief of The Best You magazine – a fascinating voice in the Personal Development world.

Or Share This Post!