Andrew Carnegie Quotes (48 Quotes)

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

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

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.

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

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

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

I can't afford to pay them any other way.

I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.

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

I would as soon leave my son a curse as the almighty dollar.

Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket.

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

Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately.

The true road to pre-eminent success in any line is to make yourself master of that line.

This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth First, to set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer, and strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community --the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.

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

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

You're achieving God's mission for humanity and country through capitalism, but by Christianity and your own sense of patriotism, you have a duty to better mankind.

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.

There is little success where there is little laughter.

Here lies a man who knew how to enlist the service of better men than himself.

All honor's wounds are self-inflicted.

Aim for the highest.

It is the mind that makes the body rich.

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

Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

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.

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

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

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.

The day is not far distant when the man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth, which was free for him to administer during life, will pass away ''unwept, unhonored, and unsung,'' no matter to what uses he leave the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will then be ''The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.'' Such, in my opinion, is the true gospel concerning wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to solve the problem of the rich and the poor.

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

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

The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship.

I have never known a concern to make a decided success that did not do good, honest work, and even in these days of fiercest competition, when everything would seem to be a matter of price, there lies still at the root of great business success the v

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

We accept and welcome... as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race.

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%.

Concentration is my motto - first honesty, then industry, then concentration.

I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle.

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

He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.

The 'morality of compromise' sounds contradictory. Compromise is usually a sign of weakness, or an admission of defeat. Strong men don't compromise, it is said, and principles should never be compromised.

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

You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.