Acres of diamonds - first published in 1890 - is a true classic of the ages. For more than 120 years, it has inspired generations to find within the true riches and opportunities we may all be tempted to seek in the outer world.This famous lecture has its genesis in a true story told to the Author by an Arab guide he met in Bagdad. It is about a businessman and land owner named Ali Hafed who, after hearing about diamonds, decided to sell his farm and travel to foreign and far distant lands in search of diamonds that will make him wealthy. Ali Hafed died poor, broke and ruined. Ironically, the man who bought his farm discovered vast amounts of diamonds and became very wealthy. That farm contained the most magnificent diamond mines in all the mankind's history.The central theme of this book is that we can all ignore diamonds in our own backyards. This poignant book and lecture is about the riches that lie dormant within each of us; riches that often go unrecognized and unexploited for an entire lifetime. Do not look for opportunity and riches in faraway lands; they are all within, near and around you.This lecture was given more than 5,000 times around the world, allowing Dr Conwell to put through college more than 1,674 young men and to found Temple University in Philadelphia and become its first president.