Quotes by Dale Carnegie


Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.
– Dale Carnegie

You can measure the size of a person by what makes him or her angry.
– Dale Carnegie

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do.
– Dale Carnegie
Applause is a receipt, not a bill.
– 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
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.
– 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
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 will tend to take care of themselves.
– Dale Carnegie
Each nation feels superior to other nations. That breeds patriotism - and wars.
– 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
Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.
– 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
If you want to be enthusiastic, act enthusiastic.
– Dale Carnegie
If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive.
– 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
It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.
– Dale Carnegie
Keep on raging - to stop the aging.
– Dale Carnegie
Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.
– 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 hope at all.
– Dale Carnegie
Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.
– Dale Carnegie
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
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
Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
– Dale Carnegie
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
– Dale Carnegie
People say I'm cocky, but am I supposed to sit here and be insecure and not know where my future's going or not realize that moviemaking is the greatest thing to happen to me?
– Dale Carnegie
Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.
– Dale Carnegie
Speakers who talk about what life has taught them never fail to keep the attention of their listeners.
– Dale Carnegie
Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.
– Dale Carnegie
Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said.
– Dale Carnegie
The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.
– 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
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
– 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
The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another's keeping .
– Dale Carnegie
The royal road to a man's heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.
– Dale Carnegie
The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.
– 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
When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.
– Dale Carnegie
You are merely not feeling equal to the tasks before you.
– 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
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
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
You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing.
– 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
Why prove to a man he is wrong? Is that going to make him like you? Why not let him save face? He didn't ask for your opinion. He didn't want it. Why argue with him? You can't win an argument, because if you lose, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it. Why? You will feel fine. But what about him? You have made him feel inferior, you hurt his pride, insult his intelligence, his judgment, and his self-respect, and he'll resent your triumph. That will make him strike back, but it will never make him want to change his mind. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
– Dale Carnegie
If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.
– 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
When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.
– 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
Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.
– Dale Carnegie
Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.
– Dale Carnegie
Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.
– Dale Carnegie