Orison Swett Marden was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer associated with the New Thought Movement. He also held a degree in medicine, and was a successful hotel owner.

Marden was born in Thornton Gore, New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

 to Lewis and Martha Marden. When he was three years old, his mother died at the age of 22, leaving Orison and his two sisters in the care of their father, a farmer, hunter, and trapper. When Orison was seven years old, his father died from injuries incurred while in the woods, and the children were shuttled from one guardian to another, with Orison working as a "hired boy" to earn his keep. Inspired by an early self-help

Self-help

Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...

 book by the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 author Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles

-Early life:Born in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, the son of Samuel Smiles of Haddington and Janet Wilson of Dalkeith, Smiles was one of eleven surviving children. The family were strict Cameronians, though when Smiles grew up he was not one of them...

, which he found in an attic, Marden set out to improve himself and his life circumstances. He persevered in advancing himself and graduated from Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 in 1871. He later graduated from Harvard with an M.D. in 1881 and an LL.B. degree in 1882. He also studied at the Boston School of Oratory and Andover Theological Seminary.

Marden supported himself during his college years by working in a hotel and afterward by becoming the owner of several hotels and a resort. Financial reverses ended that career, and in 1893, he was again working as a hotel manager, in Chicago, during the time that the World's Columbian Exposition

World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 was attracting visitors to that city from all over the world. It was during this period that he began to write down his philosophical ideas, with the goal of inspiring others as he had been inspired by Samuel Smiles.

In addition to Smiles, Marden cited as influences on his thinking the works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932...

 and Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

, both of whom were influential forerunners of what, by the 1890s, was called the New Thought Movement.

Marden's first book, Pushing to the Front, was published in 1894. He followed this with several more volumes on the subjects of success, the cultivation of will-power

Will (philosophy)

Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...

, and positive thinking

Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking... or Positive Thinking may refer to one of two songs:*Positive Thinking *Positive Thinking...

. He founded Success Magazine

SUCCESS (magazine)

SUCCESS is a business magazine in the United States published by SUCCESS Media, a company owned by VideoPlus L.P. According to the company the magazine is "designed specifically to serve the growing entrepreneur," and the magazine's primary focus is in providing information and content in the areas...

in 1897 and was also a regular contributor to Elizabeth Towne

Elizabeth Towne

Elizabeth Towne was an influential writer, editor, and publisher in the New Thought and self-help movements.-Career:Both Elizabeth Towne and her second husband William E. Towne were for many years associated with the International New Thought Alliance , and served on its board in various capacities...

's New Thought magazine Nautilus

The Nautilus (Magazine)

The Nautilus was a magazine of the New Thought Movement, founded in 1898 by Elizabeth Towne. In May 1900, Towne moved the magazine to Holyoke, Massachusetts, which became its permanent home until its discontinuation in August 1953, when Towne retired from publishing at the age of 88...

during the first two decades of the 20th century. During this time he served as the first president of the early New York City-based New Thought organization League for the Larger Life

League for the Larger Life

The League for the Larger Life was an early New Thought organization based in New York City, New York, with a chapter in Washington, D.C.. A locally-focused organization, several of its members were influential across the United States and around the world...

.

Like many proponents of the New Thought

New Thought

New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...

philosophy, Marden believed that our thoughts influence our lives and our life circumstances. He said, "We make the world we live in and shape our own environment." Yet although he is best known for his books on financial success, he always emphasized that this would come as a result of cultivating one's personal development: "The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone."

Marden died in 1924 at the age of 74.

External links

• Books by Orison Swett Marden
• Biography of Orison Swett Marden
• A Tribute to Orison Swett Marden
• Orison Swett Marden. The Miracle of Right Thought.1910 Free e-book online
• Orison Swett Marden. Pushing To The Front or, Success Under Difficulties. 1894. Free e-book download
• Orison Swett Marden. Cheerfulness as a Life Power. 1899. Free e-book download
• Orison Swett Marden. Prosperity - How to Attract It.1922. Free e-book download
• Quotes by Orison Swett Marden
• Quotations by Orison Swett Marden
• Review of Marden's classic Pushing To The Front
• Orison Swett Marden. How To Get What You Want. 1917 E-book download