Andrew Carnegie Quotes - Page 4

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.

The man of business knows that only by years of patient, unremitting attention to affairs can he earn his reward, which is the result, not of chance, but of well-devised means for the attainment of ends.

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.

The man of wealth [should] consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds, which he is called upon to administer 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 that they would or could do for themselves.

While the law [of competition] may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome, therefore, 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.

In [my] life ... I did not understand steam machinery, but I tried to understand that much more complicated piece of mechanism - man.

Give me the life of the boy whose mother is nurse, seamstress, washerwoman, cook, teacher, angel, and saint, all in one, and whose father is guide, exemplar, and friend. No servants to come between. These are the boys who are born to the best fortune.

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.

Why should men leave great fortunes to their children? If this is done from affection, is it not misguided affection? Observation teaches that, generally speaking, it is not well for the children that they should be so burdened.

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

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

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

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

Life is not so much a matter of position as of disposition.

I give money for church organs in the hope the organ music will distract the congregation's attention from the rest of the service.

I have had a long, long life full of troubles, but there is one curious fact about them-nine-tenths of them never happened.

I demand riches in definite terms; I have a definite plan for acquiring riches;I am engaged in carrying out my plan, and I am giving an equivalent,in useful service, of the value of those riches I demand.

TEAMWORK: the fuel that allows common people attain uncommon results.

What one does easily, one does well.

Instead of the question "What must I do for my employer?" substitute "What can I do"

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

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

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

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.

I believe that the road to pre-eminent success in any line of work is to make yourself master of that line of work.