Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. He led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away around $350 million (roughly $5.2 billion in 2020), almost 90% of his fortune, to charities, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research.
You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb a little himself.
As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was because you wanted something. Aim for the highest and when it’s a question of God’s almighty spirit. Never say I can’t.
The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it.
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.
Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.
Concentrate your energy, your thoughts, and your capital.
Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.
Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!
Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.
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.
No, your Majesty, I do not like kings, but I do like a man behind a king when I find him.
There are instances of millionaires’ sons unspoiled by wealth, who, being rich, still perform great services in the community. Such are the very salt of the earth, as valuable as, unfortunately, they are rare.
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.
There is no class as pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else.
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.
You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.
Air castles are often within our grasp late in life, but then they charm not.
No man can become rich without himself enriching others.
Of every thousand dollars spent in so called charity today, it is probable that $950 is unwisely spent; so spent, indeed as to produce the very evils which it proposes to mitigate or cure.
The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.
All honor’s wounds are self-inflicted.
Speculation is a parasite feeding upon values, creating none.
Wealth is not to feed our egos but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves.
I wish to have as my epitaph: Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more.
The sole purpose of being rich is to give away money.
Young man, make your name worth something.
There is little success where there is little laughter.
I would as soon leave my son a curse as the almighty dollar.
Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately.
Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.
The ‘good old times’ were not good old times. Neither master nor servant was as well situated then as today.
He that cannot reason is a fool, He that will not a bigot, He that dare not a slave.
If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.
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.
Success can be attained in any branch of human labor. There is always room at the top in every pursuit. Concentrate all your thought and energy upon the performance of your duties.
No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.
Teamwork appears most effective if each individual helps others to succeed.
And the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual but it’s best for the race because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.
Strength is derived from unity. The range of our collective vision is far greater when individual insights become one.
A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never-failing spring in the desert.
If it is right that schools should be maintained by the whole community for the well-being of the whole, it is right also that libraries should be so maintained.
There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration. 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.
