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Carnegie challenged the conventional wisdom of diversification. His advice was: 'Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket. ' He believed that great fortunes are made by concentration, not dispersion. By focusing all his energy and capital on the steel industry, he was able to drive down costs and improve quality at a rate no competitor could match. He teaches that focus is the key to dominance.
"All honor to the man who has reached the top by his own efforts."
"Aim for the highest; and when it is a question of duty, do not hesitate."
"There is no such thing as 'luck' in business, only the result of hard work and careful planning."
"The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it."
"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision."
"The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do."
"The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well."
"There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves."
"A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated."
"The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell."
"You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself."
"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents."
"I believe that the true road to preeminent success in any line is to make yourself master of that line."
"Concentration is my motto — first honesty, then industry, then concentration."
"The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced."
"Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best."
"The only way to keep a business growing is to keep the men in it growing."
"There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else."
"One of the best ways to get the best out of a man is to show him that you expect it."
"Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs."
"The 'average' man is a non-entity; he is a 'standard' man."
"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it."
"He who cannot reason is a fool; he who will not is a bigot; he who dare not is a slave."
"Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket."
"Business is a wheel which if it stops will rust."
"It is the mind that makes the body rich."
"I shall argue that strong powers are the best, and that it is better to be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond."
"The master spirits of the world are not the rule-makers, but the rule-breakers."
"The man who would succeed in any business must be a specialist."
"The man who has sent his son to college has done more for him than if he had left him a million dollars."
"The best way to help a community is to provide the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise."
"The man who starts out with the idea of making a fortune is not the man who will succeed."
"I would as soon leave to my son a curse as the almighty dollar."
"Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves."
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