Born into poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of
How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), a massive
bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote How to Stop
Worrying and Start Living (1948), Lincoln the Unknown (1932),
and several other books. After saving $500, Dale Carnegie quit
sales in 1911 in order to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a
Chautauqua lecturer. He ended up instead attending the American
Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, but found little success
as an actor, though it is written that he played the role of Dr.
Hartley in a road show of Polly of the Circus. When the
production ended, he returned to New York, unemployed, nearly
broke, and living at the YMCA on 125th Street. It was there that
he got the idea to teach public speaking, and he persuaded the
"Y" manager to allow him to instruct a class in return for 80%
of the net proceeds. In his first session, he had run out of
material; improvising, he suggested that students speak about
"something that made them