Dale Carnegie Quotes & Sayings

It has been said that nearly all of our worries and unhappiness come from our imagination and not from reality. — Dale Carnegie

I have known people," he said, "who succeeded because they had a rip-roaring good time conducting their business. Later, I saw those people change as the fun became work. The business had grown dull. — Dale Carnegie

There is only one excuse for a speaker's asking the attention of his audience: he must have either truth or entertainment for them. — Dale Carnegie

Recondition your reactions to dominant people. Try to visualize yourself behaving in a firm manner, armed with well-prepared facts and evidence. Practice saying things like "Hold on a minute - I need to consider what you have just said." Also practice saying "I'm not sure about that. It's too important to make a snap decision now." Don't cave in for fear that someone might shout at you or have a tantrum. Have faith that your own abilities will work if you use them. Non-assertive people are often extremely strong in areas of process, detail, dependability, reliability, and working cooperatively with others. These capabilities all have the potential to undo a dominating personality who has no proper justification. Recognize your strengths and use them to defend and support your position. — Dale Carnegie

Apply the blacksmith's homely principle when you are speaking. If you feel deeply about your subject you will be able to think of little else. Concentration is a process of distraction from less important matters. It is too late to think about the cut of your coat when once you are upon the platform, so centre your interest on what you are about to say - fill your mind with your speech-material and, like the infilling water in the glass, it will drive out your unsubstantial fears. — Dale Carnegie

When I asked him -Mr.Henry Ford- if he ever worried, he replied: No. I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe that every-thing will work out for the best in the end.
So what is there to worry about? — Dale Carnegie

When we are not engaged in thinking about some definite problem, we usually spend about 95 percent of our time thinking about ourselves. — Dale Carnegie

The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. Keep active, keep busy! — Dale Carnegie

The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore. — Dale Carnegie

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst. — Dale Carnegie

Your smile is a messenger of your goodwill. — Dale Carnegie

All things are ready if the mind be so. — Dale Carnegie

What is the answer to this fatigue? Relax! Relax! Relax! Learn to relax while you are doing your work! — Dale Carnegie

There you are; human nature in action, wrongdoers, blaming everybody but themselves. We are all like that. — Dale Carnegie

Criticisms are like homing pigeons. They always return home. — Dale Carnegie

Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, 'I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you. — Dale Carnegie

Tell a child, a husband or an employee that he is stupid or dumb at a certain thing, that he has no gift for it, and that he is doing it all wrong and you have destroyed almost every incentive to try to improve. But use the opposite technique, be liberal with encouragement; make the thing seem easy to do, let the other person know that you have faith in his ability to do it, that he has an undeveloped flair for it - and he will practice until the dawn comes in at the window in order to excel. — Dale Carnegie

If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work in the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. — Dale Carnegie

Tell me what gives a man or woman their greatest pleasure and I'll tell you their philosophy of life. — Dale Carnegie

It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. — Dale Carnegie

Take a chance! All life is a chance — Dale Carnegie

There is nothing else that so kills the ambitions of a person as criticisms from superiors. I never criticize any-one. I believe in giving a person incentive to work. So I am anxious to praise but loath to find fault. If I like anything, I am hearty in my approbation and lavish in my praise. — Dale Carnegie

You are going to survive. And good things are going to start to happen again. And one day you are going to look back and this will not even be such a bad thing — Dale Carnegie

Talk to someone about themselves and they'll listen for hours. — Dale Carnegie

Mix judgement with ambition and season it with energy. It makes a splendid recipe for success. — Dale Carnegie

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity. — Dale Carnegie

All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put the past together again. So let's remember: Don't try to saw sawdust. — Dale Carnegie

Lincoln, "with malice toward none, with charity for all," held — Dale Carnegie

We move toward what we picture in our minds. — Dale Carnegie

The load of tomorrow, added to that of yesterday, carried today, makes the strongest falter. ... Why even try it? — Dale Carnegie

Make a man laugh a good hearty laugh, and you've paved the way for friendship. When a man laughs with you, he, to some extent, likes you. — Dale Carnegie

Then one day I read an article that lifted me out of my despondence and gave me the courage to go on living. I shall never cease to be grateful for one inspiring sentence in that article. It said: 'Every day is a new life to a wise man.' I typed that sentence out and pasted it on the windshield of my car, where I saw it every minute I was driving. I found it wasn't so hard to live only one day at a time. I learned to forget the yesterdays and to not think of the tomorrows. Each morning I said to myself, 'Today is a new life. — Dale Carnegie

Criticism of others is futile and if you indulge in it often you should be warned that it can be fatal to your career. — Dale Carnegie

Develop success from failures. — Dale Carnegie

If you tell me how you get your feeling of importance, I'll tell you what you are. — Dale Carnegie

You are one in seven billion - your progress is not meant for you alone. — Dale Carnegie

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. — Dale Carnegie

Without purpose, the days would have ended, as such days always end, in disintegration."* — Dale Carnegie

Do the very best you can. — Dale Carnegie

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. — Dale Carnegie

Learn to love, respect and enjoy other people. — Dale Carnegie

SALUTATION TO THE DAWN Look to this day! For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course Lie all the verities and realities of your existence: The bliss of growth The glory of action The splendour of achievement. For yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow is only a vision, But today well lived makes yesterday a dream of happiness And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day! Such is the salutation to the dawn. — Dale Carnegie

Don't ask a man what is important to him. Watch how he spends his time — Dale Carnegie

When we have accepted the worst, we have nothing more to lose. And that automatically means we have everything to gain. — Dale Carnegie

Dr. Sadler opened up the drawers of his desk. All empty - except for supplies. "Tell me," said the patient, "where do you keep your unfinished business?" "Finished!" said Sadler. "And where do you keep your unanswered mail?" "Answered!" Sadler told him. "My rule is never to lay down a letter until I have answered it. I — Dale Carnegie

All art is autobiographical. You can only create what you are. — Dale Carnegie

So the only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it. — Dale Carnegie

Doing business in the digital age is predicated on doing the business of humanity well. — Dale Carnegie

Give Honest and Sincere Appreciation. — Dale Carnegie

Is his or hers. PRINCIPLE 8 Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view. PRINCIPLE 9 Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires. PRINCIPLE 10 Appeal to the nobler motives. PRINCIPLE 11 Dramatize your ideas. PRINCIPLE 12 Throw down a challenge. — Dale Carnegie

Knowledge isn't power until it is applied. — Dale Carnegie

I can remember the days when people talked about the conflict between science and religion. But no more. The newest of all sciences - psychiatry - is teaching what Jesus taught. Why? Because psychiatrists realize that prayer and a strong religious faith will banish the worries, the anxieties, the strains and fears that cause more than half of all our ills. They know, as one of their leaders, Dr. A. A. Brill, said: "Anyone who is truly religious does not develop a neurosis." If religion isn't true, then life is meaningless. It is a tragic farce. — Dale Carnegie

When you face a problem, solve it then and there if you have the facts necessary to make a decision. Don't keep putting off decisions. — Dale Carnegie

To change somebody's behavior, change the level of respect she receives by giving her a fine reputation to live up to. Act as though the trait you are trying to influence is already one of the person's outstanding characteristics. — Dale Carnegie

Shakespeare said, Assume a virtue, if you have it not. — Dale Carnegie

When he was a boy (Carnegie) back in Scotland, he got hold of a rabbit, a mother rabbit. Presto! He soon had a whole nest of little rabbits and nothing to feed them. But he had a brilliant idea. He told the boys and girls in the neighbourhood that if they would go out and pull enough clover and dandelions to feed the rabbits, he would name the bunnies in their honour. The plan worked like magic. — Dale Carnegie

Forget yourself by becoming interested in others. Every day do a good deed that will put a mile of joy on someone's face. — Dale Carnegie

Talk in terms of the other person's interests. — Dale Carnegie

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago? How did they work out? Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them turn out all right after all? — Dale Carnegie

Looking at the other person's point of view and arousing in him an eager want for something is not to be construed as manipulating that person so that he will do something that is only for your benefit and his detriment. Each party should gain from the negotiation. — Dale Carnegie

Let the other person save face. — Dale Carnegie

Flattery is counterfeit, and like counterfeit money, it will eventually get you into trouble if you pass it to someone else. — Dale Carnegie

I have discovered from personal experience that one can win the attention and time and cooperation of even the most sought-after people by becoming genuinely interested in them. — Dale Carnegie

Believe that you will succeed, and you will. — Dale Carnegie

Your smile brightens the lives of all who see it. — Dale Carnegie

As you and I march across the decades of time, we are going to meet a lot of unpleasant situations that are so. They cannot be otherwise. We have our choice. We can either accept them as inevitable and adjust ourselves to them, or we can ruin our lives with rebellion and maybe end up with a nervous breakdown. — Dale Carnegie

Look your audience straight in the eyes, and begin to talk as if every one of them owed you money. — Dale Carnegie

Remember what Lincoln said: 'A drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall. — Dale Carnegie

Appreciation is the legal tender that all souls enjoy. — Dale Carnegie

As the Readers's Digest once said: 'Many persons call a doctor when all they want is an audience. — Dale Carnegie

A person's toothache means more to that person than a famine in China which kills a million people. A boil on one's neck interests one more than forty earthquakes in Africa. — Dale Carnegie

It costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits. It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a business, and is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and Nature's best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anybody till it is given away. — Dale Carnegie

If you must make a mistake, make a new one each time. — Dale Carnegie

Everyone should have a deep-seated interest or hobby to enrich his mind, add zest to living, and perhaps, depending upon what it is, result in a service to his country. — Dale Carnegie

Today is our most precious possession. It is our only sure possession. — Dale Carnegie

Never be bothered by what people say, as long as you know in your heart you are right. — Dale Carnegie

Practice, practice, practice in speaking before an audience will tend to remove all fear of audiences, just as practice in swimming will lead to confidence and facility in the water. You must learn to speak by speaking. — Dale Carnegie

Even god doesn't propose to judge a man till his last days, why should you and I? — Dale Carnegie

confusion is the mian cause of worry — Dale Carnegie

Let's never try to get even with our enemies, because if we do we will hurt
ourselves far more than we hurt them. Let's do as General Eisenhower does: let's never
waste a minute thinking about people we don't like. — Dale Carnegie

If you want to keep happiness , you have to share it ! — Dale Carnegie

Let us not get so busy or live so fast that we can't listen to the music of the meadow or the symphony that glorifies the forest. Some things in the world are far more important than wealth; one of them is the ability to enjoy simple things. — Dale Carnegie

You can't win an argument. You can't because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it. — Dale Carnegie

A smile is nature's best antidote for discouragement. It brings rest to the weary, sunshine to those who are frowning, and hope to those who are hopeless and defeated. A smile is so valuable that it can't be bought, begged, borrowed, or taken away against your will. You have to be willing to give a smile away before it can do anyone else any good. So if someone is too tired or grumpy to flash you a smile, let him have one of yours anyway. Nobody needs a smile as much as the person who has none to give. — Dale Carnegie

The man who grasps an opportunity as it is paraded before him, nine times out of ten makes a success, but the man who makes his own opportunities is, barring an accident, a sure-fire success — Dale Carnegie

If you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener. To be interesting, be interested. Ask questions that other persons will enjoy answering. Encourage them to talk about themselves and their accomplishments. — Dale Carnegie

Give your problem all the thought you possibly can before a solution is reached. But when the matter is settled and over with, worry not at all. — Dale Carnegie

Enthusiasm is that ingredient of vitality mixed with a firm belief in what you are doing that ensures the success of any project you undertake. — Dale Carnegie

Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours. — Dale Carnegie

Mind you, I got this reduction without saying a word about what I wanted. I talked all the time about what the other person wanted and how he could get it. — Dale Carnegie

There is only one way ... to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it. — Dale Carnegie

People say I'm cocky, but am I supposed to sit here and be insecure and not know where my future's going or not realize that moviemaking is the greatest thing to happen to me? — Dale Carnegie

An old man was asked what had robbed him of joy in his life. His reply was, "Things that never happened." — Dale Carnegie

Seventy per cent of all patients who come to physicians could cure themselves if they got rid of their fears and worries. — Dale Carnegie

In talking with people, don't begin by discussing the things on which you differ. Begin by emphasizing - and keep on emphasizing - the things on which you agree. Keep emphasizing, if possible, that you are both striving for the same end and that your only difference is one of method and not of purpose. — Dale Carnegie

Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think. — Dale Carnegie

George Bernard Shaw was right. He summed it all up when he said: "The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not." So don't bother to think about it! Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating; your mind will start ticking-and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind. Get busy. Keep busy. It's the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth-and one of the best. — Dale Carnegie

If we rail and kick against it and grow bitter, we won't change the inevitable; but we will change ourselves. I know. I have tried it. I once refused to accept an inevitable situation with which I was confronted. I played the fool and railed against it, and rebelled. I turned my nights into hells of insomnia. I brought upon myself everything I didn't want. Finally, after a year of self-torture, I had to accept what I knew from the outset I couldn't possible alter. — Dale Carnegie

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed. — Dale Carnegie

Excitement radiates through your eyes, your face, your voice, your soul, and your whole personality. — Dale Carnegie