Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie (November 24, 1888 - November 1, 1955) was a pioneer in self-improvement, salesmanship, and corporate training programs, and became famous for courses he developed that emphasized public speaking and interpersonal skills. Born in poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, first published in 1936, which has sold over 15 million copies through many editions and remains popular today. He also wrote a biography of Abraham Lincoln titled Lincoln the Unknown and several other books.
53 Quotes
Naturalness is the easiest thing in the world to acquire, if you will forget yourself-forget about the impression you are trying to make.
— Dale Carnegie
Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.
— Dale Carnegie
You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.
— Dale Carnegie
There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it.
— Dale Carnegie
The royal road to a man's heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.
— Dale Carnegie
Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.
— Dale Carnegie
You are merely not feeling equal to the tasks before you.
— Dale Carnegie
Criticism of others is futile and if you indulge in it often you should be warned that it can be fatal to your career.
— Dale Carnegie
If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.
— Dale Carnegie
You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing.
— Dale Carnegie
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.
— Dale Carnegie
If you want to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic.
— Dale Carnegie
I deal with the obvious. I present, reiterate and glorify the obvious -- because the obvious is what people need to be told.
— Dale Carnegie
Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.
— Dale Carnegie
If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy
— Dale Carnegie
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it... that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.
— Dale Carnegie
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
— Dale Carnegie
You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind.
— Dale Carnegie
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain -- and most fools do.
— Dale Carnegie
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.
— Dale Carnegie
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
— Dale Carnegie
Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have.
— Dale Carnegie
Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think.
— Dale Carnegie
Did you ever see an unhappy horse? Did you ever see bird that had the blues? One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses.
— Dale Carnegie
Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don't put off being happy until some future date.
— Dale Carnegie
The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don't like their rules, whose would you use?
— Dale Carnegie
One of the most appalling comments on our present way of life is that half of all the beds in our hospitals are reserved for patients with nervous and mental troubles, patients who have collapsed under the crushing burden of accumulated yesterdays and fearful tomorrows. Yet a vast majority of those people would be walking the streets today, leading happy, useful lives, if they had only heeded the words of Jesus: Have no anxiety about the morrow; or the words of Sir William Osler; Live in day-tight compartments.
— Dale Carnegie
If you want to win friends, make it a point to remember them. If you remember my name, you pay me a subtle compliment; you indicate that I have made an impression on you. Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance.
— Dale Carnegie
The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.
— Dale Carnegie
There is only one way... to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.
— Dale Carnegie
All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put the past together again. So let's remember: Don't try to saw sawdust.
— Dale Carnegie
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all.
— Dale Carnegie
Tell me what gives a man or woman their greatest pleasure and I'll tell you their philosophy of life.
— Dale Carnegie
We all have possibilities we don't know about. We can do things we don't even dream we can do.
— Dale Carnegie
First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.
— Dale Carnegie
Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
— Dale Carnegie
Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.
— Dale Carnegie
There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.
— Dale Carnegie
Your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. Relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience.
— Dale Carnegie
If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive.
— Dale Carnegie
Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The ?sure thing? boat never gets far from shore.
— Dale Carnegie
Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
— Dale Carnegie
Speakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners.
— Dale Carnegie
Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said.
— Dale Carnegie
The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.
— Dale Carnegie
Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves.
— Dale Carnegie
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon--instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
— Dale Carnegie
Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still.
— Dale Carnegie
You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.
— Dale Carnegie
Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.
— Dale Carnegie
Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago? How did they work out? Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
— Dale Carnegie
If only the people who worry about their liabilities would think about the riches they do possess, they would stop worrying.
— Dale Carnegie
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
— Dale Carnegie