Anyone interested in self-improvement has probably read something by Dale Carnegie or at least heard of him.  His life made a difference through his speaches and writings.

His most famous book is How To Win Friends and Influence People.  It is a true classic on dealing successfully with people.  There have been many “people skills” books written since Carnegie's book but almost all reference this classic.  If you were going to only read one book on “people skills” this would probably be the book to read.

But one of my favorites is the book called How To Stop Worrying and Start Living.  If you struggle with worry in your life then pick this book up.  It is awesome.

Carnegie was an early proponent of what is now called responsibility assumption, although this only appears minutely in his written work. One of the core ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's reaction to them.

About Dale Carnegie

Born in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri, Carnegie was a poor farmer's boy, the second son of James William Carnagey and Amanda Elizabeth Harbison. In his teens, though still having to get up at 4 a.m. every day to milk his parents' cows, he managed to get educated at the State Teacher's College in Warrensburg. His first job after college was selling correspondence courses to ranchers; then he moved on to selling bacon, soap and lard for Armour & Company. He was successful to the point of making his sales territory, southern Omaha, the national leader for the firm.

Perhaps one of Carnegie’s most successful marketing moves was to change the spelling of his last name from “Carnegey” to Carnegie, at a time when Andrew Carnegie was a widely revered and recognized name.

Great Quotes by Carnegie

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain – and most fools do.”

“Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.”

“Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it… that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.”

“First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.”

Education lesson resources from Kamaron Institute for parents and teachers.