Don't be content with doing only your duty. Do more than your duty. It's the horse that finishes a neck ahead that wins the race.
Interpretation
Strive to exceed expectations and go beyond just fulfilling responsibilities.
This quote by Andrew Carnegie emphasizes the importance of not merely performing one's duties, but instead going above and beyond in pursuit of success. Just like in a race, where the winner is determined by a small margin, those who put in extra effort are often the ones who achieve their goals and stand out from the rest.
In practice
In a team meeting, to encourage colleagues to take initiative: 'Remember, as Andrew Carnegie said, don't just do your duty, do more than your duty!'
Give me the life of the boy whose mother is nurse, seamstress, washerwoman, cook, teacher, angel, and saint, all in one, and whose father is guide, exemplar, and friend. No servants to come between. These are the boys who are born to the best fortune.
To kill a man will be considered as disgusting [in the twentieth century] as we in this day consider it disgusting to eat one.
It is not the rich man's son that the young struggler for advancement has to fear in the race for life, nor his nephew, nor his cousin. Let him look out for the dark horse in the boy who begins by sweeping out the office.
You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, love big and live big.
Speculation is a parasite feeding upon values, creating none.
He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.
Getting picked is fine if it happens to you. But it's not a plan. It's a version of waiting and hoping.
The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.
Isn't it interesting that people feel best about themselves right before they go on vacation? They've cleared up all of their to-do piles, closed up transactions, renewed old promises with themselves. My most basic suggestion is that people should do that more than just once a year.
Persistence is the direct result of habit. The mind absorbs and becomes a part of the daily experiences upon which it feeds. Fear, the worst of all enemies, can be effectively cured by forced repetition of acts of courage.
The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence.
What do you want most to do? That's what I have to keep asking myself, in the face of difficulties.
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