Acres of Diamonds

Our Every-day Opportunities

Russell H. Conwell 1890

This speech uses stories to show how people overlook opportunities close to home. A farmer sells his land to search for diamonds, only for its new owner to find them there.

153 pages 2h 58m reading time

One of the best-known American speeches on success, and an early classic of self-help writing.
Argues that opportunity is usually found in your own town, your own work, and the needs of the people around you, not in some faraway place.
Claims that people have a duty to become rich by honest means, because wealth lets them do more good for others.
The money Conwell earned from giving this lecture helped him build Temple University in Philadelphia, which still educates students today.
Its message that anyone can succeed by spotting nearby needs helped shape the American self-help and success writing that followed.

Heard from a desert guide

Conwell said an Arab guide told him the diamond tale while leading his group near Baghdad in 1870.
Given over 6,000 times

Conwell delivered the speech more than 6,000 times over roughly fifty years of travel and touring.
Changed for every town

Before each talk, he learned about the local town so he could name its own people, businesses, and needs.
A speech before a book

It was a popular spoken lecture for many years before it was printed as a short book.