Quotes by Andrew Carnegie
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Wikipedia Summary for Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (Scots pronunciation: [kɑrˈnɛːɡi], English approximation: kar-NEH-ghee; November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history. He became a leading philanthropist in the United States and in the British Empire.
During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away ~$350 million (roughly $5.2 billion in 2019) to many charities, foundations, and universities – almost 90 percent of his fortune. His 1889 article proclaiming "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, expressed support for progressive taxation and an estate tax, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy.
Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848 at age 12. Carnegie started work as a telegrapher, and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman, raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303,450,000. It became the U.S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next several years.
Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research. With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, and the Peace Palace and founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.'

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

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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.

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Those who would administer wisely must, indeed, be wise, for one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity.
Longer Version:
Those who would administer charity wisely must, indeed, be wise, for one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity. It were better for mankind that the millions of the rich were thrown into the sea than spent to encourage the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy. Of every thousand dollars spent in so-called charity today, it is probable that nine hundred and fifty dollars is unwisely spent -- so spent, indeed, as to produce the very evils which it hopes to mitigate or cure.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.
Longer Version:
Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate. More money has been made in real estate than in all industrial investments combined. The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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.

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Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.
Longer Version:
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.
Quotes by Andrew Carnegie are featured in:
Happiness Quotes
Money Quotes
Motivational Quotes
Perseverance Quotes