Andrew Carnegie

"The man who has never lost himself in absorbing work has missed life's greatest pleasure."

"Those who would continue to receive must continue to give."

"The older I grow, the more I value privacy, yet the more I understand that such a thing is impossible without absolute integrity."

"In these days, a man cannot live upon the principal. He must live upon the interest of the principal. Otherwise his estate will be rapidly depleted."

"Knowledge is the only instrument of production that cannot be taken away from a man against his will."

"The greatest man is he who chooses right with the most invincible resolution."

"There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library; it's a great pulpit."

"A friend to the poor is a friend indeed, and charity administered in the right spirit is the highest achievement of the human soul."

"The man who gathers knowledge and uses it not is like the farmer who plows and sows but does not reap."

"To do something well is infinitely better than to do something mediocrely. To do something very well is to do it superbly."

"The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced. All surplus wealth should go to the public during the lifetime of its possessor."

"It is more blessed to give than to receive, and the man who gives the most is the happiest."

"Do not look for success, but for worthiness. Success will follow as the shadow follows the substance."

"I resolved then that I would share my good fortune with my fellow men and that I would see to it that this fortune should be used to do the most good."

"The man of one task is a formidable opponent, and he who divides his attention divides his power."

"There is no surer foundation for a beautiful life than a pure character gained through hard work and self-denial."

"Pioneers may be picturesque figures, but they are invincibly narrow and unenlightened. The provincial person is usually a pioneer."

"The price which society pays for the law of competition, like the price it pays for any other great human institution, is also great."

"Anything I can conceive of as possible, I ought to endeavor to make possible. That is my duty as a man."

"A man who acquires the ability to completely control his own thoughts is a man who is in control of his own world."

"The highest art is the art of living a plain life in an elegant way without pretense or show."

"The man who gathers knowledge, gathers means to use it, and applies it to the actual world, is the successful man."

"There is a moral law of the universe, as certain as the law of gravity, that affects our present and future."

"He that cannot look danger in the face with steady eye and beating heart, is not the man for great achievements."

"The very wealthy are just as apt to be foolish as the very poor. The difference is that fool-wisdom looks impressive when you have money."

"A man's best friends are his ten fingers. If he keeps them busy, he will have few idle hands to cause trouble."

"The man who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the man doing it."

"To be busy is to be alive and well. Idleness and indolence are signs of decay, mental and physical."

"We start in life with the advantage or disadvantage of our parents' conditions. But the great men of the world have started with nothing."

"A man must be able to sit alone in a room with his own thoughts and find them worthy company."