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Andrew Carnegie's insights on Work aren't theoretical—they're battle-tested wisdom from someone who operated at the highest level. This collection distills that experience into quotable principles, each with source context for verification. When you're navigating Work in the real world, these quotes offer the kind of practical guidance that only comes from direct experience.
"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert."
"It is the mind that makes the body rich."
"He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave."
"Every act you perform is a brick in the building of your character."
"Concentrate your energy, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches that basket."
"Concentration is my motto — first honesty, then industry, then concentration."
"Business is a very simple matter. It is just to provide something that people want."
"There is no use in helping a man who will not help himself. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself."
"Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself."
"No man can become rich without himself enriching others."
"The man who captures the prize is the man who stays on the job until it is finished."
"The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell."
"Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best."
"The master spirit of the age is the spirit of work."
"Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs."
"Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence."
"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."
"The man who starts out with the idea of making a fortune is not the man who will succeed; you must have a higher ambition than that."
"We are the toiling thousands, who with our hands and brains, are enriching the earth."
"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents."
"The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced."
"I would as soon leave to my son a curse as the almighty dollar."
"The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do."
"Aim for the highest; and when you reach it, aim higher still."
"A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated."
"Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves."
"The first thing that a man should learn is that he is a part of a great whole."
"You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best work for you."
"The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled."
"I shall argue that the industrialist is a servant of the community."
"There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else."
"The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it."
"The man who does not do more work than he's paid for isn't worth what he is paid."
"Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately."
"The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it."
Seeing how Andrew Carnegie approaches Work helps you apply the idea with more precision.
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