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Who Was Dale Carnegie?
Dale Carnegie (November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) was an American writer and lecturer and a developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Born into poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), one of the best-selling books of all time.
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The 10 Best Dale Carnegie Books of All Time
Why these best Dale Carnegie books and not others? The best Dale Carnegie books below are the top picks from my long list of all Dale Carnegie’s books, ranked by a combination of Goodreads rating, number of Goodreads reviews and publication date. The aim is to surface what’s most loved, what’s most popular and what’s proven timelessly relevant.
NOTE: Since Dale Carnegie was prolific and many of his works are out of copyright, this list contains several more-recently-published re-edits of his earlier work.
Here are the 10 best Dale Carnegie books of all time:
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Dale Carnegie Quotes
“The person who has technical knowledge plus the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership and to arouse enthusiasm among people – that person is headed for higher earning power.”
“Health is the prime interest of adults… their second interest is people; how to understand and get along with people; how to make people like you; and how to win others to your way of thinking.”
“For years I kept an engagement book showing all the appointments I had during the day. My family never made any plans for me on Saturday night, for the family knew that I devoted a part of each Saturday evening to the illuminating process of self-examination and review and appraisal. After dinner, I went off by myself, opened my engagement book, and thought over all the interviews, discussions and meetings that had taken place during the week. I asked myself:
What mistakes did I make that time?
What did I do that was right – and in what way could I have improved my performance?
What lessons can I learn from that experience?
… This system of self-analysis, self-education, continued year after year, did more for me than any other one thing I have ever attempted.”
“Criticism is futile because it puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s precious pride, hurts his sense of importance, and arouses resentment.”
“Criticisms are like homing pigeons. They always return home.”
“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices nd motivated by pride and vanity.”
“There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything…. and that is by making the other person want to do it. Remember, there is no other way.”
“Some of the people most things want include:
1. Health and the preservation of life.
2. Food.
3. Sleep.
4. Money and the things money will buy.
5. Life in the hereafter.
6. Sexual gratification.
7. The well-being of our children.
8. A feeling of importance.”
“If you tell me how you get your feeling of importance, I’ll tell you what you are. That determines your character.”
“The difference between appreciation and flattery? That is simple. One is sincere and the other insincere. One comes from the heart out; the other from the teeth out. One is unselfish; the other selfish. One is universally admired; the other universally condemned.”
“Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was performed because you wanted something.”
“[Andrew Carnegie’s] sister in law was worried sick over her two boys. They were at Yale, and they were so busy with their own affairs that they neglected to write home and paid no attention whatever to their mother’s frantic letters.
Then Carnegie offered to wager a hundred dollars that he could get an answer by return mail, without even asking for it. Someone called his bet; so he wrote his nephews a chatty letter, mentioning casually in a postscript that he was sending each one a five-dollar bill.
He neglected, however, to enclose the money.
Back came the replies by return mail thanking ‘Dear Uncle Andrew’ for his kind note and – you can finish the sentence yourself.”
“Most people go through college and learn to read Virgil and master the mysteries of calculus without ever discovering how their own minds function.”
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
“You have to be interested in people if you want to be a successful writer of stories.”
“[Howard] Thurston’s method was totally different. He told me that every time he went on stage he said to himself: ‘I am grateful because these people have come to see me. They make it possible for me to make my living in a very agreeable way. I’m going to give them the very best I possibly can.’
He declared he never stepped in front of the footlights without first saying to himself over and over: ‘I love my audience. I love my audience.'”
“The expression one wears on one’s face is far more important than the clothes one wears on one’s back… That is why dogs make such a hit. They are so glad to see us that they almost jump out of their skins. So naturally, we are glad to see them.”
“You must have a good time meeting people if you expect them to have a good time meeting you.”
“The average person is more interested in his or her own name than in all the other names on earth put together.”
“If you aspire to be a good conversationalist, be an attentive listener. To be interesting, be interested. Ask questions that other persons will enjoy answering. Encourage them to talk about themselves and their accomplishments. Remember that the people you are talking to are a hundred times more interested in themselves and their wants and problems than they are in you and your problems. A person’s toothache means more to that person than a famine in China which kills a million people.”
“Whenever Roosevelt expected a visitor, he sat up late the night before reading up on the subject in which he knew his guest was particularly interested. For … the royal road to a person’s heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most.”
“The unvarnished truth is that almost all the people you meet feel themselves superior to you in some way, and the sure way to their hearts is to let them realize in some subtle way that you realize their importance, and recognize it sincerely.”
“There is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument – and that is to avoid it… You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lost it; and if you win it, you lose it.”
“You will never get into trouble by admitting that you may be wrong. That will stop all argument and inspire your opponent to be just as fair and open and broad-minded as you are. It will make him want to admit that he, too, may be wrong.”
“When we are wrong, we may admit it to ourselves. And if we are handled gently and tactfully, we may admit it to others and even take pride in our frankness and broad-mindedness. But not if someone is trying to ram an unpalatable fact down our oesophagus.”
“Nothing will work in all cases – and nothing will work with all people. If you are satisfied with the results you are now getting, why change? If you are not satisfied, why not experiment?”
“That is what every successful person loves: the game. The chance for self-expression. The chance to prove his or her worth, to excel, to win.”
“It isn’t nearly so difficult to listen to a recital of your faults if the person criticising begins by humbly admitting that he, too, is far from impeccable.”
“If you want to improve a person in a certain respect, act as though that particular trait were already one of his or her outstanding characteristics.”
“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear to do and get a record of successful experiences behind you.”
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
I founded TAoL to discover and share the best wisdom on how to live long and prosper. Before that I studied Psychology, Philosophy & Physiology at Oxford and consulted at McKinsey. Still curious? Learn more or take my FREE productivity quiz.
