Andrew Carnegie Quotes & Sayings

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

Steel is prince or pauper. — Andrew Carnegie

Their surplus wealth to the mass of their fellows in the forms best calculated to do them lasting good. Thus is the problem of Rich and Poor to be solved. The laws of accumulation will be left free; the laws of distribution free. Individualism will continue, but the millionaire — Andrew Carnegie

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

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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

The man who dies rich, dies disgraced. — Andrew Carnegie

Humanities education is the worst thing for an industrialist. — Andrew Carnegie

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

Speculation is a parasite feeding upon values, creating none. — Andrew Carnegie

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

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

Neither the individual nor the race is improved by almsgiving. The best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise. — Andrew Carnegie

Surplus wealth is a sacred trust to be managed for the good of others. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

The public only knows one side of [Mark Mark Twain] - the amusing part. Little does it suspect that he was a man of strong convictions upon political and social questions and a moralist of no mean order. — Andrew Carnegie

An iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road of the common construction. Here lay in a few words the idea from which our railway system has sprung. — Andrew Carnegie

When fate hands us a lemon, let's try to make lemonade. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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

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

Young man, make your name worth something. — Andrew Carnegie

There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb himself. — Andrew Carnegie

This is where the children of honest poverty have the most precious of all advantages over those of wealth. The mother, nurse, cook, governess, teacher, saint, all in one; the father, exemplar, guide, counselor, and friend! Thus were my brother and I brought up. What has the child of millionaire or nobleman that counts compared to such a heritage? — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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.' — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

Not evil, but good, has come to the race from the accumulation of wealth by those who have the ability and energy that produce it. — Andrew Carnegie

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

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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

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

The result of my journey was to bring a certain mental peace. Where there had been chaos there was now order. My mind was at rest. I had a philosophy at last. The words of Christ "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you," had a new meaning for me. Not in the past or in the future, but now and here is Heaven within us. All our duties lie in this world and in the present, and trying impatiently to peer into that which lies beyond is as vain as fruitless. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

No man can become rich without himself enriching others — Andrew Carnegie

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

Mr. Morgan buys his partners; I grow my own. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

Success can be attained in any branch of labor. There's always room at the top in every pursuit. — Andrew Carnegie

The battle of life is already half won by the young man who is brought in contact with high officials; and the great aim of every boy should be to do something beyond the sphere of his duties- something which attracts the attention of those over him. — Andrew Carnegie

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

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

This, then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: To set an example of modest, unostentatious living, shunning display or extravagance; to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent on 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 judgement, 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. — Andrew Carnegie

You develop millionaires the way you mine gold. You expect to move tons of dirt to find an ounce of gold, but you don't go into the mine looking for the dirt-you go in looking for the gold. — Andrew Carnegie

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

Anything in life worth having is worth working for. — Andrew Carnegie

My hopes were high, and I looked every day for some change to take place. What it was to be I knew not, but that it would come I felt certain if I kept on. One day the chance came. — Andrew Carnegie

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

Is necessarily limited by his lack of knowledge of the circumstances — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

One great cause of failure of young men in business is the lack of concentration. — Andrew Carnegie

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

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

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. — Andrew Carnegie

If the newspapers begin to publish stories about wars, and the people begin to think and talk of war in their daily conversations, they soon find themselves at war. People get that which their minds dwell upon, and this applies to a group or community or a nation of people, the same as to an individual — Andrew Carnegie

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

A word, a look, an accent, may affect the destiny not only of individuals, but of nations. He is a bold man who calls anything a trifle. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

Any idea that is held in the mind that is either feared or revered will, begin at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate physical forms available. — Andrew Carnegie

There is no idol more debasing than the worship of money. — Andrew Carnegie

Concentrate your energy, your thoughts and your capital. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

Private Property, the Law of Accumulation of Wealth, and the Law of Competition ... these are the highest results of human experience, the soil in which society so far has produced the best fruit. — Andrew Carnegie

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

I am as a speck of dust in the sun, and not even so much, in this solemn, mysterious, unknowable universe. — Andrew Carnegie

Three generations from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves. — Andrew Carnegie

Here lies one who knew how to get around him men who were cleverer than himself — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves. — Andrew Carnegie

Men who reach decisions promptly usually have the capacity to move with definiteness of purpose in other circumstances. — Andrew Carnegie

The man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth, which was his to administer during his life, will pass away unwept, unhonoured and insung no matter to what uses he leaves the dross which he cannot take with him. — Andrew Carnegie

A business is seldom if ever built up except on lines of strictest integrity. — Andrew Carnegie

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

Pioneering don't pay. — Andrew Carnegie

No man becomes rich unless he enriches others. — Andrew Carnegie

All is well since all grows better — Andrew Carnegie

All human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes. — Andrew Carnegie

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

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

What one does easily, one does well. — Andrew Carnegie

The price which society pays for the law of competition, like the price it pays for cheap comforts and luxuries, is great; but the advantages of this law are also greater still than its cost- for it is to this law that we owe our wonderful material development, which brings improved conditions in its train. — Andrew Carnegie

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

He that cannot reason is a fool. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

Aim for the highest. — Andrew Carnegie

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

The secret of happiness is renunciation. — Andrew Carnegie

The more difficult a problem becomes, the more interesting it is. — Andrew Carnegie

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 very much more important factor of quality. The effect of attention to quality, upon every man in the service, from the president of the concern down to the humblest laborer, cannot be overestimated. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie

The rare individuals who unselfishly try to serve others have an enormous advantage-they have little competition. — Andrew Carnegie

There is no use whatsoever in trying to help people who do not help themselves. — Andrew Carnegie

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. — Andrew Carnegie