Quotes by Andrew Carnegie

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.

There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else.

Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb himself.

The greatest astonishment of my life was the discovery that the man who does the work is not the man who gets rich.

Aim for the highest.

I began to learn what poverty meant. It was burnt in my heart then that my father had to beg for work and there came the resolve that I would cure that when I got to be a man.

The sole purpose of being rich is to give away money.

I wish to have as my epitaph: 'Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.'

There is no way of making a business successful that can vie with the policy of promoting those who render exceptional service.

Men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold; but one doesn't go into the mine looking for dirt--one goes in looking for the gold.

Those who would administer wisely must, indeed, be wise, for one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity.

I choose free libraries as the best agencies for improving the masses of the people, because they give nothing for nothing. They only help those who help themselves.

A man who was generous with his wealth. It has been reported that during his lifetime, Carnegie gave away over $350 million of his money to help others.

The surest foundation of a manufacturing concern is quality. After that, and a long way after, comes cost.

Mutual ignorance breeds mutual distrust.

Every man gravitates to where he belongs in life, just as surely as water seeks and finds its level. His position is measured precisely by the quality and quantity of the service he renders, plus the mental attitude with which he relates himself to other people.

Do real and permanent good in this world.

Teamwork appears most effective if each individual helps others to succeed, increasing the synergy of that team; ideally, every person will contribute different skills to increase the efficiency of the team and develop its unity.

Be king in your dreams. Make your vow that you will reach that position, with untarnished reputation, and make no other vow to distract your attention.

One great cause of failure of young men in business is lack of concentration.

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work.

Golf is an indispensable adjunct to high civilisation.

Strength is derived from unity. The range of our collective vision is far greater when individual insights become one.

Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will have a new and better factory.

Any person can achieve greatness if they understand the philosophy of success and the steps required to achieve it.

No man becomes rich unless he enriches others.

The best time to expand is when no one else dares to take risks.

Give me a man with an average ability but a burning desire to succeed and I will give you a winner in exchange every time.

Do not think a man has done his full duty when he has performed the work assigned him. A man will never rise if he does only this. Promotion comes from exceptional work.

Here is the prime condition of success: Concentrate your energy, thought and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun on one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it.

I am no longer cursed by poverty because I took possession of my own mind, and that mind has yielded me every material thing I want, and much more than I need. But this power of mind is a universal one, available to the humblest person as it is to the greatest.

The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate.

The only irreplaceable capital an organization possesses is the knowledge and ability of its people. The productivity of that capital depends on how effectively people share their competence with those who can use it.

Touch his head, and he will bargain and argue with you to the last; Touch his heart, and he falls upon your breast.

There is scarcely an instance of a man who has made a fortune by speculation and kept it.

I will give a million dollars for any convincing proof of a future life.

Pioneering don't pay.

It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied so productive of good to girls and boys who have good within them and ability and ambition to develop it as the founding of a public library.

Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.

The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it.

The more difficult a problem becomes, the more interesting it is.

Nothing tells in the long run like a good judgment, and no sound judgment can remain with the man whose mind is disturbed by the mercurial changes of the stock exchange. It places him under an influence akin to intoxication. What is not, he sees, and what he sees, is not.

Strong men don't compromise, it is said, and principles should never be compromised.

Upon the sacredness of property civilization itself depends-the right of the laborer to his hundred dollars in the savings bank, and equally the legal right of the millionaire to his millions.

It is not the rich man's son that the young struggler for advancement has to fear in the race for life, nor his nephew, nor his cousin. Let him look out for the dark horse in the boy who begins by sweeping out the office.

I don't believe in God. My God is patriotism. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.

It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize that other people can help you do a better job than you could do alone.

You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, love big and live big.

It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.

Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark.... In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed. ~Germaine Greer.

And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.

When I did big things, some large corporations like the Pennsylvania Railroad Company were behind me and responsible party.

The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do.

And there is no use whatever, gentlemen, trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself.

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!

The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.

The way to become rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.

Mr. Morgan buys his partners; I grow my own.

No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.

Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was performed because you wanted something.

Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.