Law of Sucess - "What Do We Mean by Believe?" By Napoleon Hill

Wishing won't make it so," runs an old saying. This is true, and helps you remember a wish is not a belief.

A wish takes place, as it were, upon the surface of the mind. I wish . . . you may say, and follow with any wish that tickles your fancy . . . to have a million dollars drop into your lap . . . to be able to flap your arms and fly. A wish is not limited by natural forces. That very apparent fact, however, is not the main difference between a wish and a belief.

A belief is created, as it were, in the depths of the mind. A belief becomes part of you. That is why a true, deep belief can change your glandular secretions and the content of your bloodstream, and work other physical changes beyond the power of medical science to explain. Again, a belief, radiating its unknown wave length from the depths of your mind to the depths of another mind, accounts for a good deal of "personality power" and much else on which we can put only the clumsiest of labels. It is belief in a cause - much stronger than a wish to stay alive - which causes people to transcend ever the instinct of self-preservation. It is belief that founds religion, sustains nations, stands behind anything great that ever is achieved. A belief, I repeat, is part of you; that is why you can achieve what you believe. Moreover, when you hold a great belief you believe all the time, just as, all the time, you go on living.