I wish to have as my epitaph: 'Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.'
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of valuing the knowledge and skills of others.
Andrew Carnegie's quote suggests that true wisdom lies in recognizing oneβs own limitations and surrounding oneself with individuals who possess greater knowledge and expertise. By doing so, a person not only enhances their own understanding but also contributes to collective success. It highlights the idea that leadership is not about having all the answers but about empowering others to contribute their strengths.
In practice
In a leadership seminar discussing effective management strategies.
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.
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.
Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.
A rationalist is simply someone for whom it is more important to learn than to be proved right; someone who is willing to learn from others - not by simply taking over another's opinions, but by gladly allowing others to criticize his ideas and by gladly criticizing the ideas of others
There is nothing so wrong as accepting a thing merely because men who have done things say it should be so.
Knowledge enormous makes a God of me._x000D_ _x000D_ Names, deeds, gray legends, dire events, rebellions,_x000D_ _x000D_ Majesties, sovran voices, agonies,_x000D_ _x000D_ Creations and destroyings, all at once_x000D_ _x000D_ Pour into the wide hollows of my brain,_x000D_ _x000D_ And deify me, as if some blithe wine_x000D_ _x000D_ Or bright elixir peerless I had drunk,_x000D_ _x000D_ And so become immortal.
Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.
Poverty is uncomfortable; but nine times out of ten the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim.
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