The American Dream

Defining your own American Dream• The phrase the

American Dream came into the American vocabulary starting in 1867 when writer, Horatio Alger came out with his book “Ragged Dick.” It was a rags-to-riches tale of a poor orphan boy in New York City who saves his pennies, works hard and eventually becomes rich. It became the model that through honesty, hard work and strong determination, the American Dream was available to anyone willing to make the journey.

Dream Makers

• If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hour.

- Henry David Thoreau

Horatio Alger• Born in Revere,

Massachusetts, January 13, 1832, Horatio Alger, Jr., grew up in a Calvinist home with a strong focus on education and religion. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard Divinity School in 1852.

Abe Lincoln • The question is asked over and over again. How was it possible for a young boy born into poverty in a log cabin in the backwoods of Kentucky with little formal education to rise up and become the 16th President of the United States, and perhaps America’s greatest President ever?

Abe Lincoln• A Lifetime of

Persistence—Age Challenge

• 22 Failed in business.• 23 Defeated for

Legislature.• 24 Failed again in

business.• 25 Elected to

Legislature.• 26 Sweetheart died.• 27 Had a nervous

breakdown.29 Defeated for Speaker.

• 31 Defeated for Elector.• 34 Defeated for

Congress.• 37 Elected to Congress.• 39 Defeated for

Congress.• 46 Defeated for

Senate.• 47 Defeated for Vice

President.• 49 Defeated for Senate• 51 Elected President of

the United States

Henry Ford

• Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.

• Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you are right.

Franklin D. Roosevelt• How was it possible

for a man with polio, who lost the full usage of both of his legs, courageously overcame his limitations and became the only President of the United States to be elected to four consecutive terms?

Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

• It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

Thomas Edison

• I didn’t fail ten thousand times. I successfully eliminated, ten thousand times, materials and combinations which wouldn’t work.

• The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.

Sam Walton

• From humble, hard-working roots, Sam Walton built Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. into the largest, fastest-growing, and most profitable retailer in the world.

Reflections

• Your dreams are your creative vision of your life in the future.

• Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.

• The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

• Each person’s destiny is not a matter of chance; it’s a matter of choice. It’s determined by what we say, what we do, and whom we trust.

Reflections

• Most people are looking for security, a nice, safe, promising future. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s called the American Dream.

• Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not.

• Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.

It all begins with a Dream . . .

• You see things and say, “why?” But I dream things that never were and I say “why not?”

• The great danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

• What is your dream?God Bless America