Andrew Carnegie is a philanthropist, businessman, and one of the wealthiest people in American history. He built his fortune by investing in railroads and steel. However, his wealth was great enough to sell some of his businesses to devote himself full-time to giving away money for good causes.
He had an intense desire to help society’s weaker members; he said, “I would rather earn less profit so long as my workmen are satisfied.” As a result, he helped many organisations, including universities (founded the University of Pittsburgh), libraries (he donated more than $56 million worth of books), churches, foundations, hospitals, museums and charities for widows and orphans.
In this blog post, we look at some famous quotes from Andrew Carnegie and implement them in different aspects of our lives.
1. “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”
In this quote, Carnegie highlights the importance of being reflective. He’s saying that thinking about your life and where it’s going can be very tricky and difficult to do productively. So many people don’t put in this work because they are afraid of what they might discover in their lives when they reflect on them.
Carnegie says that the reason why so few engage in thinking is that it’s difficult, but he seems to be suggesting that for those who do sit down and think about their life, they will usually find it rewarding. We can all benefit from reflecting on what we are doing with our lives, the goals we want to achieve and how we can improve upon what we’ve done before.
2. “I do not believe there is any other quality so essential to the success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.”
Carnegie’s quote here reflects his personal experience of life and how crucial it was for him to keep going no matter what happened or how difficult things got for him. This is an important quality that we all need to cultivate. It’s not enough to have an idea or a desire. It takes determination and perseverance to see things through and achieve our goals in life.
We should never be afraid of going against the grain or doing what others aren’t doing because sometimes that’s the only way to find success.
3. “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.”
Here, Carnegie highlights his drive and ability to get on with things rather than making excuses for problems he faced. As he says, giving excuses will not get us very far in life, but taking them will let us down.
Instead, Carnegie suggests that it’s much better not to give excuses and get on with the job. This attitude will set you apart from others in your field who are making up problems or looking for reasons why things won’t work out. If we spend our lives always looking for excuses why something can’t be done, then the chances are that things won’t get done.
4. “The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.”
This quote is very revealing. As Carnegie says, the average person only puts 25% of their energy into their work. That means that even though they are working hard at it, three-quarters of what they’re doing is not effective or productive. People don’t put 100% into their work because there are distractions and things that get in the way, which prevent them from working to their full potential.
These distractions could be other things such as other hobbies, seeing friends and family, watching TV, playing video games and many other activities. All of these can be useful and fun for us, but if we want to achieve our goals and succeed in our lives, we need to learn how to cut out distractions.
5. “I attribute my success in great measure to discipline.”
Discipline is an incredibly important quality because it helps us follow through with whatever we choose to do, whatever goal we set for ourselves and whatever path of action we decide upon. Of course, it would be very easy for us to expect our goals to fall into place without doing any work or following a specific procedure, but the truth is very different.
To achieve great things takes discipline, not just on a general level but at every step of the way, as Carnegie explains. This is because achieving our goals involves doing things daily that might otherwise not be that interesting or exciting.
As Carnegie says, discipline allows us to get on with things, get the job done without wasting too much time thinking about it or making excuses. Of course, this comes more naturally for some people than for others, but we can all gain greater levels of discipline through working at things and cultivating habits.
6. “You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.”
This quote by Carnegie reflects his pragmatic approach to life. He suggests that for someone to achieve something great in life, they need to be willing to do what it takes, not just what comes easily by default.
We are where we are now in our lives because of the decisions that we have made up until this point. However, if we want to reach even greater heights, we need to make better choices now, ones that align with our goals and aspirations.
7. “We are too prone to make ‘bright promises’ at the beginning of every year–and let them be broken in the end.”
Carnegie suggests that we should be careful not to make plans that we don’t intend on following through with. This is because making promises and resolutions will mean nothing until we follow them up with action and make an effort to realise those goals. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that everyone makes these same promises at the start of the new year, and yet we mainly stay in the same place we were before.
8. “There is not much success where there is not much laughter.”
One of Carnegie’s most famous quotes reflects his idea that happiness and excellence go hand in hand. If you want to be successful and make a great difference in your life, you need to surround yourself with positive people who can help you stay motivated when you are down.
Of course, it’s important to look at the negative things in life constructively because we will not move forward in any direction without this. So what Carnegie is trying to say is that if we want to achieve something, there can be no room for negative people and criticism because it will impact our ability to learn from challenging situations.
9. “Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.”
This is a good insight into Carnegie’s mindset because he suggests that the only thing we truly need to make a success of our life is willpower, the power of our mind.
Having material possessions is not bad, but it can be easy to become too attached to them and forget that they are just things, temporary at best, whereas the mind remains with us throughout all time.
10. “I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.”
This is another great insight into Carnegie’s mindset because he suggests that if we want to be successful in business, then we need to dedicate ourselves fully without allowing distractions – such as, for instance, family and friends – to get in the way and take up too much of our time and attention.
To be successful, we need to think about what we do during waking hours and when we sleep, which seems like a good piece of advice for any aspect of life because we should never stop learning or trying to improve ourselves.
11. “Organised labour is not a cure-all or a be-all. It is a principle that works well in certain conditions and fails miserably in others.”
In this quote, Carnegie reflects on his own experience as an industrialist and shows that he was willing to work with the unions if it meant higher productivity for all involved. He suggests that some conditions are more suited to this system than others.
12. “The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.”
This quote by Carnegie is an analogy for how he saw capitalism as a young man – that some were born into it and had everything handed to them on a plate, while others would have to fight their way up the ladder.
However, as Carnegie got older, he realised that this view was very much part-truth and that those who were successful made their luck by being willing to reach out to those they felt could help them. So, in a sense, it is a different spin on “the harder I work, the luckier I get.”
13. “I shall devote all my energies to build up a business… and fortune, of course.”
One of his famous quotes shows that he was never afraid of hard work or trying to reach new goals in life – for instance, becoming an extremely wealthy man. Carnegie had no problem with this because he believed it was a sign of success and prosperity. He also saw money as an essential part of society because it enabled the buying and selling of goods which, in turn, meant more jobs for people.
14. “I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.”
Carnegie had a strong sense of morality, and this quote reflects that. He was convinced that those who had rights and privileges should also shoulder the responsibilities corresponding to them.
15. “No man will do a great business who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit.”
This is another one of Carnegie’s famous quotes that show his belief in the power of teamwork. He suggests that if we look to work with others – employees, business partners and customers alike – everybody will benefit because success is more likely for all concerned.
16. “The man who starts simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition.”
Carnegie suggests that the idea of making money is not enough in itself – it has to be used for some larger purpose or ambition, such as creating products that will improve people’s lives.
17. “No man becomes rich unless he enriches others.”
This quote by Carnegie is another insight into his philosophy about life and business. He suggests that wealth is something that we must use to help ourselves and others and, by doing this, it means that we will be able to enjoy the finer things in life and security and peace of mind.
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing what it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”
This is another one of Carnegie’s famous quotes that show his philosophy as a businessman.