A Review of B. C. Forbes' "Keys to Success"
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Date Published: July 15, 2024
Modified: May 7, 2025 |
A Review of "Keys to Success" by B. C. Forbes
- Reviews of the Day: 1917, 1918, & 1926
- Selected Quotes and Insights from "Keys to Success"
- This Author’s Thoughts and Perceptions on "Keys to Success"
Reviews of the Day: 1917, 1918, & 1926
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“ 'Keys to Success, Personal Efficiency' by B. C. Forbes, is, generally speaking, an excellent book for those who earnestly desire to better their condition in life, and are willing to do the necessary work to realize this laudable desire.
"There is much good advice in it, and it is notably free from pedantry or obscure technical words. In simple language the student is informed of the essentials to success. Full warning is given that there is no short cut, no easy path to success. "The reader is impressed with the thought that … in the end … success depends entirely upon personal effort. The advice is limited to pointing out the paths by which the heights may be climbed and designating the characteristics that must be developed in the effort." “New Books and Magazines,”
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, January 1919 |
B. C. Forbes as published in 1922.
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“A very practical book. … It abounds in precepts, advice, and logical arguments which are intended to guide the reader into the right paths, warn him of difficulties he will encounter, show him how others overcame similar or greater difficulties, and encourage the individual to wrestle and triumph over obstacles. …
“ ‘I do not feel that I have written this book,’ says the author, modestly. ‘Its authors, rather, are a hundred or more of our best-known captains of industry, statesmen, writers, and a few sages of former days.’
“Much of the material comes direct from businessmen who have become recognized as the foremost authorities in their line.”
“ ‘I do not feel that I have written this book,’ says the author, modestly. ‘Its authors, rather, are a hundred or more of our best-known captains of industry, statesmen, writers, and a few sages of former days.’
“Much of the material comes direct from businessmen who have become recognized as the foremost authorities in their line.”
“Books and Their Authors,” The Brooklyn Citizen, March 1919
“This book can afford either much help or no help; all depends upon the spirit in which it is read and used. Nobody can hand one a ready-made key to open the door of success.”
“Nine New Business Books at the Library,” The Evening Day, July 1928
Selected Quotes and Insights from "Keys to Success"
The following excerpts were selected from a few of the twenty different chapters and topics covered in "Keys to Success: Personal Efficiency" by B. C. Forbes of Forbes Magazine.
Enjoy the excerpts.
Enjoy the excerpts.
- Introduction from "Keys to Success" by B. C. Forbes
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“This work can afford either much help or no help; all depends upon the spirit in which it is read and used. … It contains, not solely old-as-the-hills platitudes and generalities, but the greatest wealth of specific, concrete pointers from our most successful present-day men of affairs that has ever been gathered between two covers.
“It is intended to: guide the reader into the right paths, … warn him of difficulties, … show him how others overcame similar or greater difficulties, … inculcate correct ideas on what constitutes worthwhile success, … and invest life with a purpose that will yield satisfying joy at the end as well as during the early and mid-way states of life.”
"Introduction," B. C. Forbes, Keys to Success: Personal Efficiency
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- "Think" by B. C. Forbes
“A lot of men are crammed full of knowledge but don’t know how to use it. … We study too much and think too little. Cultivate the ability to think, and think straight. … The great positions are filled … by those who think—and follow up their thoughts with deeds.
“Achievement is not thought or action, but thought and action.”
“Achievement is not thought or action, but thought and action.”
Henry L. Doherty, Creator of Public Utility Organizations
- "Loyalty" by B. C. Forbes
“To win and to engender loyalty the purpose in hand must be worthy of loyal, wholehearted effort. Any person convinced that strong drink is a curse to humanity could never become a loyal bartender. …
"A first requisite of success is to get into some business and into some concern which deserves your loyalty.”
"A first requisite of success is to get into some business and into some concern which deserves your loyalty.”
B. C. Forbes
- "Cheerfulness" by B. C. Forbes
“The longest face is apt to be awarded the smallest [pay] envelope. The largest [pay] envelope is most likely to go to the fellow whose presence and personality inspire, stimulate and encourage others. …
"If a smile can be worth a million dollars, why cultivate a frown, for which there is no market?”
"If a smile can be worth a million dollars, why cultivate a frown, for which there is no market?”
B. C. Forbes
- "Opportunity" by B. C. Forbes
“Opportunity can be spelt with four letters. But these letters are not l-u-c-k. They are w-o-r-k!”
B. C. Forbes
- "Politeness" by B. C. Forbes
“Polite acts spring from kindly thoughts. Politeness is only another name for thoughtfulness. … Impoliteness is a species of selfishness, of putting yourself first, of trampling upon the feelings or the rights of others. Impoliteness is an ugly quality. …
"Courtesy—another name for politeness—costs nothing, but can gain much both for an individual and for an organization. Theodore Roosevelt, notwithstanding the pugilistic nature of many of his public utterances, is, privately, one of the most polite and mannerly citizens in the United States.”
"Courtesy—another name for politeness—costs nothing, but can gain much both for an individual and for an organization. Theodore Roosevelt, notwithstanding the pugilistic nature of many of his public utterances, is, privately, one of the most polite and mannerly citizens in the United States.”
B. C. Forbes
- "Honesty" by B. C. Forbes
“Honesty is the cornerstone of character. … The honest man or woman now seeks not merely to avoid criminal or illegal acts, but to be scrupulously fair, upright, and fearless in both action and expression. … Employers have learned that employees who will act dishonestly for them will, when opportunity arises, act dishonestly by them.
"The employee who will cheat a customer will as readily cheat a boss, for dishonesty and disloyalty go hand-in-hand.”
"The employee who will cheat a customer will as readily cheat a boss, for dishonesty and disloyalty go hand-in-hand.”
B. C. Forbes
- "Self-Education" by B. C. Forbes
“Education is both a means to an end and an end in itself. … Education consists chiefly of reading, observation, conversation and reflection. … Our education comprises the sum total of what we know. … Education is observation rather than perspiration. … Education is to the brain what food is to the body. …
"The vitally important thing for the young man or woman is to, first, realize the value of education, and then to cultivate earnestly, aggressively, and ceaselessly, the habit of self-education."
"The vitally important thing for the young man or woman is to, first, realize the value of education, and then to cultivate earnestly, aggressively, and ceaselessly, the habit of self-education."
B. C. Forbes
- "You" by B. C. Forbes
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"Your character is your own handiwork.
"You alone can select the materials that go into it. "You alone can reject what is not fit to go into it. … "You have to build your own monument . . . " . . . or dig a pit for yourself. "Which are you doing?" B. C. Forbes' Quote
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Video of full text of "You" from B. C. Forbes's "Teamwork" that was republished in 2025 on Amazon in "Keys to Success in the 21st Century."
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This Author’s Thoughts on "Keys to Success: Personal Efficiency"
This book was initially published in 1917, and then redistributed in 1918 and 1926. In 1922, an extract of four of these articles (Teamwork, Stick-to-itiveness, Opportunity, and You) was published in a supplementary work entitled “Teamwork.” The review of this small book and its articles can be found here: [Review of Teamwork: You].
The first chapter of this work by B. C. Forbes, highlights the one individual who owns personal success: “You.” It ends with the final means of attaining success: building “Foundations.” The subjects covered between these all-important “bookend chapters” expand on and support these concepts.
As I read some of the early reviews, I also found several ministers who utilized this book in their parishioner book studies. I found this encouraging and wondered if “we” should today also be reviewing these character traits and some of its “philosophical” content within our schools and with our children.
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As I read, I wondered how many of us talk to our kids about the power of politeness, courage, initiative, personality, self-education, ideals, and enthusiasm, and the ability these traits have in improving their individual chances for success? I know that I, personally, have fallen short in this area of my own “self-education,” but this is why I read these books and capture what I discover in reviews.
Forbes introduces character traits that he believes are found in successful business and political institutions and these institutions’ leaders and employees. Although I wrote that “he believes,” Forbes’ beliefs were all well documented with quotes and insights from his early, twentieth-century interviews with some of America’s best-known industrialists, bankers, and capitalists—with “capitalist” being used in the twentieth-century sense of one who provides capital for growth.
The breadth of the topics these chapters cover is evident in the above sidebar, and as the 1922 book review states, B. C. Forbes believed that “success depends entirely upon personal effort.” He describes the paths and character traits that must be developed to achieve success.
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These are the chapter topics evaluated in B. C. Forbes’ “Keys to Success,” starting with ‘You’ and ending with ‘Foundations.'
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B. C. Forbes definitely believed that success should not be defined in monetary terms. To him, monetary success was not the goal of success but a result of practicing the right principles to achieve success, or as he writes—quite poignantly—in this book:
“Success must no longer be spelled ‘$ucce$$.’
“It must be spelled ‘Service.’ ”
Cheers,
- Peter E.
“Success must no longer be spelled ‘$ucce$$.’
“It must be spelled ‘Service.’ ”
Cheers,
- Peter E.