"A sunny disposition is worth more than fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated; that the mind, like the body can be moved for the shade into sunshine."

"He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave."

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes."

"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents."

"Aim for the highest."

"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."

"You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself."

"Success can be attained in any branch of human labor. There is always room at the top in every pursuit. Concentrate all your thought and energy upon the performance of your duties."

"There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not want to help themselves."

"The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced."

"Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!"

"The secret of happiness is renunciation."

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do."

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."

"All achievements, all earned riches have their beginning in an idea."

"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it."

"The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled."

"My motto is concentration. First honesty; then industry and then concentration."

"There is little success where there is little laughter."

"I believe that the true road to preeminent success in any line is to make yourself master of that line."

"Wealth is not to feed the egos but to feed the hungry and to help people help themselves."

"Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself."

"Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket."

"Anything worth having is worth working for."

"Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs."

"I began to learn what poverty meant. It was burnt into my heart then that my father had to beg for work. And then and there came the resolve that I would cure that when I got to be a man."

"Be king in your dreams. Make your vow that you will reach that position, with untarnished reputation, and make no other vow to distract your attention."

"The way to become rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket."

"No person will make a great business; who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit."

"Young man, make your name worth something."

"Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community."

"I resolved to stop accumulating and begin the infinitely more serious and difficult task of wise distribution."

"My heart is in the work."

"And the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual but it’s best for the race because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department."

"The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it."

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

"Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best."

"There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else."

"Surplus wealth is a sacred trust to be managed for the good of others."

"All honor’s wounds are self-inflicted."

"I can’t afford to pay them any other way."

"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never-failing spring in the desert."

"Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was because you wanted something. Aim for the highest and when it’s a question of God’s almighty spirit. Never say I can’t."

"No man becomes rich without himself enriching others."

"It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize that other people can help you do a better job than you could do alone."

"I did not understand steam machinery, but I tried to understand much more complicated mechanism; – man."

"When I did big things, some large corporations like the Pennsylvania Railroad Company were behind me and responsible party."

"All human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes."

"You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best."

"I would as soon leave my son a curse as the almighty dollar."

"Do real and permanent good in this world."

"The ‘morality of compromise’ sounds contradictory. Compromise is usually a sign of weakness or an admission of defeat. Strong men don’t compromise, it is said, and principles should never be compromised."

"Concentration is my motto – first honesty, then industry, then concentration."

"It is trying to be other than one’s self that unmans one. Be your own natural self and go ahead."

"It is the mind that makes the body rich."

"And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret. Concentrate your energy, thoughts and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged in. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line; to lead in it. Adopt every improvement, have the best machinery and know the most about it."

"The secret of success lies not in doing your own work but in recognizing the best person to do it."

"The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%."

"Don’t look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best."

"Watch the costs and the profits will take care of themselves."

"I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle."

"The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell."

"No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor."

"Mr. Morgan buys his partners; I grow my own."

"Whatever I engage in, I push inordinately."

"The wise man put all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket."