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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of property rights for both the laborer and the wealthy, as foundational to civilization.
Andrew Carnegie's quote underscores the essential role that property rights play in maintaining the structure of civilization. By asserting that both the modest savings of a laborer and the vast wealth of a millionaire are equally sacred, Carnegie highlights the significance of legal rights to ownership as crucial for societal stability and progress. This perspective advocates for a system where all individuals, regardless of their economic standing, are afforded the same respect for their property.
In practice
In a speech about economic fairness, one could use this quote to illustrate the essential nature of property rights.
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.
Africa for the Africans... at home and abroad!
A pool is, for many of us in the West, a symbol not of affluence but of order, of control over the uncontrollable. A pool is water, made available and useful, and is, as such, infinitely soothing to the western eye.
The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of day with some purchased relief.
The fact is that the more we take flight upward [to God], the more our words are confined to the ideas we are capable of forming; so that now as we plunge into that darkness which is beyond intellect, we shall find ourselves not simply running short of words but actually speechless and unknowing.
Human life without death would be something other than human; consciousness of mortality gives rise to out deepest longings and greatest accomplishments.
The great soul of power extends far beyond states, to every domain of life, from families to international affairs. And throughout, every form of authority and domination bears a severe burden of proof. It is not self-legitimizing. And when it cannot bear the burden, as is commonly the case, it should be dismantled.
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