Russell Conwell

Acres of Diamonds was originally given as a speech and then transcribed into a small book. It has become one of the top 100 speeches ever given and is widely available and often quoted. It is inspirational and thought provoking. It conveys a message that at the time was quite foreign to all and was seen as very controversial. It is still listened to today some 100 years after it was first delivered.

Who was Russell Conwell

Russell Herman Conwell (February 15, 1843 – December 6, 1925) was an American Baptist minister, orator, philanthropist, lawyer, and writer. He is best remembered as the founder and first president of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and for his inspirational lecture Acres of Diamonds. He was born in South Worthington, Massachusetts and was buried in the Founder's Garden at Temple University.

His Book and Speech

"Acres of Diamonds" originated as a speech which Conwell delivered over 6,000 times around the world. It was first published in 1890 by the John Y. Huber Company of Philadelphia.

In A People's History of the United States, The historian Howard Zinn comments that the message was that anyone could get rich if he tried hard enough while impying that Conwell held elitist attitudes by quoting him from his speech the following:

"I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich.... The men who get rich may be the most honest men you find in the community. Let me say here clearly .. . ninety-eight out of one hundred of the rich men of America are honest. That is why they are rich. That is why they are trusted with money. That is why they carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with them. It is because they are honest men. ... ... I sympathize with the poor, but the number of poor who are to be sympathised with is very small. To sympathize with a man whom God has punished for his sins ... is to do wrong.... let us remember there is not a poor person in the United States who was not made poor by his own shortcomings. ..."

Conwell's capacity to establish Temple University and his other civic projects largely derived from the income that he earned from this speech (Acres of Diamonds).

The Message in his book

The central idea of the work is that one need not look elsewhere for opportunity, achievement, or fortune—the resources to achieve all good things are present in one's own community. This theme is developed by an introductory anecdote, told to Conwell by an Arab guide, about a man who wanted to find diamonds so badly that he sold his property and went off in futile search for them; the new owner of his home discovered that a rich diamond mine was located right there on the property. Conwell elaborates on the theme through examples of success, genius, service, or other virtues involving ordinary Americans contemporary to his audience: "dig in your own back-yard!”.