Andrew Carnegie (1835 – 1919)
Scottish-American businessman, a major philanthropist, and the founder of the Carnegie Steel Company, which later became U S Steel.
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No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor.
While the law [of competition] may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department. We accept and welcome, therefore, as conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great inequality of environment, the concentration of business, industrial and commercial, in the hands of the few, and the law of competition between these, as being not only beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the race.
Upon the sacredness of property civilization itself depends—the right of the laborer to his hundred dollars in the savings bank, and equally the legal right of the millionaire to his millions.
Those who would administer wisely must, indeed, be wise, for one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity.
The problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship.
Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.
Three generations from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves.
How very little the millionaire has beyond the peasant, and how very often his additions tend not to happiness but to misery.
The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.
I don’t believe in God. My god is patriotism. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.
The average person puts about 25 percent of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50 percent of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100 percent.
As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
Such, in my opinion, is the true Gospel concerning Wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to solve the problem of the Rich and the Poor, and to bring "Peace on earth, among men Good Will."
Watch the costs, and the profits will take care of themselves.
Anything in life worth having is worth working for!
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