Dale carnegie quotes

I first heard about Dale Carnegie was because someone recommended his best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. And since then, I have started to learn more about Carnegie and his work.

Today, the name Dale Carnegie is a brand. It is a business, an organization that provides professional training to grow more business leaders, powerful presenters, and boosts your confidence in your career.

In my previous post, How to Achieve Great Success Using this Dale Carnegie Principle, I shared how Carnegie discovered the idea for his best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and how the book went to become one of the ground-breaking books in the personal development industry.

The essence of the book was first created as a short talk, but then it quickly grew and became a one-and-a-half-hour lecture.

Carnegie kept sharing his ideas from the book with his students, and they were well-received. He then wrote down the rules from the book on a postcard to use as material for his teachings.

As more people loved Carnegie’s teachings, he slowly grew his teaching materials from rules written on a postcard, to leaflet, then a series of booklets, and 15 years later, it became a book that has sold over 30 million copies worldwide!

So, if you want to learn more about Dale Carnegie, read his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

how to win friends and influence people
One of the groundbreaking books in the personal development industry. Get this book on Amazon.

Now, let’s talk about the inspirational sayings from Dale Carnegie. Here are the 12 best Dale Carnegie quotes about life and success that will surely help you in your journey…

1. “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.”

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.

That’s right. Success is about persisting when others have given up. It doesn’t matter what it is that you are trying to achieve in life, the key to success is to keep trying and don’t give up.

Here’s what you need to know:

“A winner will never quit and a quitter will never win.”

Most people fail and are not living their dream life because they give up. They quit whenever things become tough or too difficult to handle.

If you want to succeed, here’s the rule: don’t quit!

Read this: 7 Steps How To Not Give Up On Your Dreams

2. “If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Too many people only think and dream about what they want, but they don’t take action. They don’t execute and work on their plan.

There are 2 types of fear:

  • Fear of failure, and
  • Fear of success.

When you are fearful and you worry too much about failure and success, you will be paralyzed. You are not going to take action when you are fearful.

People fear public speaking because they worry about the fear of failure. They don’t want to get ridiculed or laughed at if they make mistakes on the stage.

But, do you know what is the best solution to overcome fear? Action.

Yes, the reason you don’t take action is that you are fearful, but the moment you take action, the fear will dissipate.

It may sound contradicting, but it is true. The more fearful you are, the more you need to face the fear and do it anyway. Because once you have done it, nothing can stop you.

Here are some extra resources to help you overcome your fear:

3. “Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”

Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Many people got it wrong. They thought the success they want is created in the future. No, that is wrong. The success you want is created today. It is what you do today that determines what you get in the future.

As Dale Carnegie said, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Tomorrow will surely arrive, you don’t have to overthink about your future. Overthinking will make you nervous and worry.

What you need to do then is to focus on the now. Your present moment will become your past. And your future will become the present moment.

Hence, just focus on your present and do what you can. I love this saying from Kung Fu Panda:

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift… that’s why they call it the present.”

4. “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

So, are you having fun with what you do? If you don’t, why do it in the first place?

You knew that passion is one of the keys to success. If you don’t love or have fun in what you do, you will never want to do it with your full heart.

People who don’t like their job or their work tend to do things in a half-hearted manner. They just want to get the work done and get paid. They don’t dare if they overdeliver or do it better than the rest. They just want to get the work done.

And this is what separates those who are successful from those who are not.

Richard Branson once said…

“Some 80% of your life is spent working. You want to have fun at home, why shouldn’t you have fun at work?”

If you don’t like what you do, change. You are not a tree. Either you learn to have fun in what you do, or just change what you do.

5. “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.”

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.

Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right. It is your thinking that makes it so.

Therefore, always choose to think positive and happy thoughts. You see, things or events themselves have no meaning, except the meaning that you give them.

When your car broke down at the roadside, it is not a positive or negative event. Because it all depends on how you think about it.

If you think that you are having bad luck and a bad day because your car broke down, then it will be a negative event for you. Your thinking will define the event as an unhappy circumstance.

On the contrary, you can choose to look at it from a positive point of view. Your car broke down means it is finally time for you to get a new car. And if you think about it from that angle, you will never look at it as a negative event.

Thus, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from, or what you do, it is your thinking that makes you happy or unhappy about it.

So, learn to be grateful and thankful for your life. Read this article to learn more: 10 Ways to Be a More Thankful Person.

6. “Happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions.”

Happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions.

Again, this is another great quote from Dale Carnegie. Happiness doesn’t depend on what happens to you, but instead, it depends on how you interpret the situation.

In 1914, when Thomas Edison’s lab was engulfed in flames, he didn’t panic or cry in despair. Instead, Edison told his 24-year-old son, “Go get your mother and all her friends. They’ll never see a fire like this again.”

And when his son objected in disbelief, Edison went on to say, “It’s all right. We’ve just got rid of a lot of rubbish.”

This is why Thomas Edison was one of the most famous inventors in the world.

It doesn’t matter what life throws at you, if your inner conditions are empowering, you will look at setbacks as challenges to improve yourself, not as roadblocks that stop you from progressing forward.

7. “If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don’t want to be.”

If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don’t want to be.

The only way to achieve the success you want is to grow yourself into the person who has the success qualities, traits, attitudes, and mindset. Without improving or changing who you are internally, you will never attract the results you want.

Many people got it wrong. They think that to attract success, all they need to do is to think about what they want. Wrong.

This is not how things work. To get what you want, you must grow yourself and BE the person who is worthy of success, and only then success will come to you.

You don’t get what you think, you get WHO you become.

This is why changing the way you think is important. You want to change your brain to attract the success you desire. You can learn how to change your brain from John Assaraf here.

8. “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.”

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.

Yes, fear only appears in your mind. It doesn’t exist in reality, only your mind makes it so.

Think about it, your fear isn’t real. You are the one who makes it up in your head. When you fear public speaking because you worry you may make mistakes, you haven’t delivered the speech yet, so the fear isn’t real. It is created in your mind.

When you fear if you are going to fail your exam, think again, the exam is yet to take place, and you are the one who created the fear in your head.

The same goes if you are in sales and you worry if your client is going to reject you. The fear only appears in your head, not in reality.

Therefore, to get rid of fear, start with your mind. Once you learned how to conquer your fear, nothing can stop you.

This is why I suggest you take this web class from John Assaraf and learn how to master your mind by changing your brain.

9. “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.”

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.

If you want to make friends, you don’t have to be all about yourself. Learn to be interested in others, not yourself.

For instance, you don’t have to talk about yourself all the time. If you want to build trust and make friends, learn to feel interested in others. Talk about their life, talk about them, and talk about their interests, and they will have an interest in you.

If you want to learn how to network with others and win friends, the best way is to read Dale Carnegie’s best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

10. “The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.”

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.

Your mistakes and failures are stepping stones to success. Don’t look at mistakes and failures as a setback, instead, look at them as feedback for you to grow.

Just like how Dale Carnegie came up with his book, he did not start with the idea to write a book. Instead, he was need materials for his teachings, hence, he created postcards and leaflets to help his students understand better. Which eventually, it grew into a book.

Thus, learn from your mistakes and try again. Most people fail because they give up too early. The moment they face some difficulties, they thought that things are impossible to achieve, and hence, they quit.

Never let that happens to you. You can face many defeats, but you must not be defeated.

Here’s a guide you should read: How Successful People Overcome Failures and Bounce Back

11. “One of the 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.”

One of the 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.

This is a great saying from Dale Carnegie. Too many of us put off living. We dream about the perfect future we want and we forget to enjoy the present to the fullest.

Worse, some people are stuck in life because they are living in their past. They are dragged by their past and unable to move forward in life.

Never let that happens to you. Be grateful and be thankful for what you have in life. Because the more you celebrate life, the more there is for you to celebrate.

And if you are not grateful, no matter how much you get, you will never feel enough. Someone who is earning $10,000 a month will want to earn $100,000 a month. And people who are earning $1 million will want to earn $10 million.

There is always more. And there is never enough.

This is why you want to be grateful for everything you had in life. When you are grateful, you will feel rich if you have $10 in the bank. But if you are not grateful, you will never feel enough even if you have $10 million in the bank.

12. “One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses.”

One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses.

This is one of my favorite quotes from Dale Carnegie. People often fall into depression and feel unhappy because they are always comparing themselves with others, and are trying to impress others.

When people see their friends bought a new iPhone and shared it on Facebook, they want to have the same phone too.

If you are someone who always tries to impress others and you love to compare, you may live in misery. Why? Because there will be more to compare and there is always someone to impress.

As Dale Carnegie said, you don’t have to impress others. Just be yourself. And if you want to compare, compare with yourself.

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By Shawn Lim

Hi there, this is Shawn. I inspire people to achieve their goals and dreams and to reach for higher success in life. If you want to learn more about me, kindly go to the About page. By the way, have you downloaded your FREE copy of The 90-90-1 Rule? Don't forget to do so. Cheers. :)

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