Andrew Carnegie Quotes

“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.”

“No man has ever been known to succeed without applying the principle of definiteness of purpose.”

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

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

“Show me a man of average ability but extraordinary desire and I’ll show you a winner every time.”

“All is well since all grows better”

“There is a power under your control that is greater than poverty, greater than the lack of education, greater than all your fears and superstitions combined. It is the power to take possession of your own mind and direct it to whatever ends you may desire.”

“Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.”

“There is little success where there is little laughter.”

“A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated; that the mind, like the body can be moved from the shade into sunshine.”

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

“Here lies a man who knew how to enlist in his service better men than himself.”

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

“A man’s reading program should be as carefully planned as his daily diet, for that too is food, without which he cannot grow mentally.”

“True it is, we only hate those whom we do not know.”

“All honor’s wounds are self-inflicted.”

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

“The man who cannot or will not control himself never can control others.”

“Any idea that is held in the mind, that is emphasized, that is either feared or revered, will begin at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate form available.”

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

“The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.”

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.”

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

“Concentration is my motto — first honesty, then industry, then concentration.”

“The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.”

“Anything in life worth having is worth working for.”

“Don’t be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your duty. It’s the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.”

“There are two types of people who never achieve very much in their lifetimes. One is the person who won’t do what he or she is told to do, and the other is the person who does no more than he or she is told to do.”

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

“The first thing to do about an obstacle is simply to stand up to it and not complain about it or whine under it but forthrightly attack it. Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have. Just stand up to it, that’s all, and don’t give way under it, and it will finally break. You will break it. Something has to break and it won’t be you, it will be the obstacle.”

“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.”

“If you want to buy a man's head and hands, you must first capture his heart.”

“Organized effort is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

“The rare individuals who unselfishly try to serve others have an enormous advantage - they have little competition.”

“You can't push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.”

“Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.”

“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.”

“The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.”

“Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves.”

“Speculation is a parasite feeding upon values, creating none.”

“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.”

“No man becomes rich unless he enriches others.”

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

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

“Don't knock your competitors. By doing so, you give them the best advertisement they could possibly have.”

“Young man, make your name worth something.”

“Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.”