Dr. Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924) was an American inspirational author who wrote on success in life and how to achieve it. His writings discuss common-sense principles and virtues that make for a well-rounded, successful life. Many of his ideas are based on New Thought philosophy.
His first book, Pushing to the Front (1894), became an instant best-seller and remains a classic in the genre of self-help. Marden later published fifty or more books and booklets, averaging two titles per year.[1]
Marden had an unusual ability to strike a chord with his readers, encouraging them with hope and firing them with ambition to achieve. The privations of his childhood and youth, his broad education and his wide business experience in early manhood were factors that enabled him to write with understanding, sympathy and depth. Marden died in 1924 at the age of seventy-four.