Quotes from Andrew Carnegie.

A few months ago I read "The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie", and my dad suggested that I write down some of my favorite quotes from the book. I thought it might be a good idea to post them on this blog.

• A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it is cultivated; that the mind like the body can be moved from the shade into sunshine. Laugh trouble away if possible, and one usually can if he be anything of a philosopher.
• You can choose to be happy; provided that self-reproach comes not come from your own wrong doing. That always remains. Hence the grand rule of life which Burns gives: “Thine own reproach alone do fear.”
• I have not attributed my success to what I have known or done myself, but to the faculty of knowing and choosing others who did know better than me.
• I tried to understand the more complicated piece of machinery: Man.
• A hero can be a strong guide if you ask yourself the question; what would he or she have done in this situation?
• A word, an accent, may affect the destiny not only of individuals, but of nations. He is a bold man who calls anything a trifle. The young should remember that upon trifles the best gifts of God often hang.
• “He asked me how soon I could come, and I said that I would come now if wanted.” And, looking back over the circumstance, I think that answer might well be pondered by young people.
• It is a great mistake not to seize the opportunity.
• Wise men are always looking out for clever boys.
• The fundamental advantage of a library is that it gives nothing for nothing. Youth must acquire knowledge themselves. There is no escape from this. 
• Whenever one learns to do anything he has never to wait long for an opportunity of putting his knowledge to use.
• Knowledge is sure to prove useful in one way or another.
• A few rules for speaking are: 1. Make yourself perfectly at home before your audience.2. Simply talk to them, not at them; never orate until you can’t help it.3. Just say what you feel like saying.4. Be yourself. It is trying to be other than one’s self that unmans one.5. Remember that your audience are people.
• I have never believed in being too hard on a young man, even if he does commit a dreadful mistake or two.
• Our experience was that young women were more to be relied upon than young men.
• If it came out all right, it was all right; if it came out all wrong, the responsibility was mine.
• The battle of life is already half won by the young man who is brought personally in contact with high officials.
• 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.
• I felt I had gone too far, but having taken the step, I informed him of what I had done. I hid nothing.
• Light and certain punishment, when necessary, is most effective.
• It was only the truth that could make us free, and the truth, the whole truth, we should pursue.
• An investment: it gave me the first penny of revenue from capital – something I had not worked for with the sweat of my brow. “Eureka! Here is the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
• Even in my teens I was a scribbler for the press.
• The pen was getting to be a weapon with me.
• Our air castles are often within our grasp late in life, but by then they have lost their charm.
• Men at first argued about the constitutional rights. It made all the difference in the world when the flag was fired upon.
• Slight attention or a kind word to the humble often brings back rewards as great as it is unlooked for. No kind word is ever lost.
• His manners were perfect because they were natural. His attentions were not graduated; they were the same for all.
• If we truly care for others we need not be anxious about their feelings for us.
• I all our dealing we only used the best material and enough of it.
• We were our severest inspectors, and would build a safe structure or none at all.
• Instead of objecting to inspectors they should be welcomed to all establishments.
• A high standard of excellence is easily maintained, and men are educated in the effort to reach excellence.
• The surest foundation of a company is quality.
• If you want a contract, be on the spot when it is let. An opportunity might show.
• And if possible stay on hand until you can take the written and signed contract home in your pocket.
• Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.
• I insisted upon such a system of accounting being introduced throughout our work, so that we would know what our costs where for every process and especially what each man was doing, who saved time and money, who wasted it, and who produced the best results. This is a key principle to having success in manufacturing.
• A man must necessarily occupy a narrow field who is at the beck and call of others. Even if he becomes president of a great corporation he is hardly his own master, unless he holds control of the stocks. The ablest presidents are hampered by the boards of directors and shareholders, who can know but little of the business.
• Those who can create something out of nothing have great cause of self-congratulation.
• Whatever I engage in I must push inordinately; therefore should I be careful to choose that life which will be the most elevating in its character.
• I have adhered to the rule never to purchase what I did not pay for, and never to sell what I did not own.
• Most troubles of humanity are imaginary and should be laughed out of court. It is folly to cross a bridge until you come to it. All is well till the stroke falls, and even then it is often less than anticipated. A wise man is the confirmed optimist.
• Many men can be trusted but a few need watching.
• It is essential to permanent success that a house should obtain a reputation for being governed by what is fair rather than what is merely legal.
• I believe the true road to preeminent success in any line is to make yourself master of that line.
• I have no faith in the policy of scattering one’s resources, and in my experience I have rarely if ever met a man who achieved pre-eminence in moneymaking who was interested in many concerns.
• The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.
• There is no way of making a business successful than can vie with the policy of promoting those who render exceptional service.
• My experience has been that no partnership of new men gathered promiscuously from various fields can prove a good working organisation as at first constituted. Changes are required. 
• Upon no account could two men be in the same works with equal authority.
• An army with two commanders-in-chiefs, a ship with two captains, could not fare more disastrously than a company with two men in command upon the same ground, even though in two different departments. 
• When I wrote, I wrote for my friends.
• What one does easily one does well. 
• One vital lesson I learned was the necessity of owning raw materials and finishing the completed article ready for its purpose. It would not do to depend on others for anything essential to the company. 
• Here lies the advantage of a partnership over a corporation. The president of the latter would have had to consult a board of directors and wait several weeks and perhaps months for their decision. 
• We trod on sure grounds with our experts at as our guides.
• The main root of trouble is ignorance, not hostility.
• Anything can be done with men who have this feeling of loyalty with them. They only need to be treated fairly.
• By not opposing them directly, and instead using a counter stroke, I was able to get what I wanted while not leaving them an excuse to oppose me.
• “I resolved to stop accumulating and began the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution.”
• Money is a very powerful tool; and as most tools it can be used for good purposes or for bad purposes. The more money you have, the greater the effect of what you do.
• A man may have all the good intentions in the world but if he does not know how to use the tools he has he will end up doing more bad than good. A powerful fool with good intentions can be worse than a weak but cunning man with bad ones.
• Using money is easy; using it wisely is what is hard.
• After I chose what to do, God sent me opportunities to do so.
• True heroes think not of reward. They are inspired and think only of their fellows endangered; never of themselves.
• “What good am I doing in this world to deserve all these mercies?”
• We only hate those whom we do not know.
• There are times in most men’s lives that test whether they are dross or pure gold. It is the decision made in the crisis which proves the man.
• He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.