How to Win Friends and Influence People

‘A great man shows his greatness,’ said Carlyle, ‘by the way he treats little men.’

“Let us sit down and take counsel together, and, if we differ from each other, understand why it is that we differ, just what the points at issue are,” we will presently find that we are not so far apart after all, that the points on which we differ are few and the points on which we agree are many, and that if we only have the patience and the can

to assume that he or she is sincere, honest, truthful and willing and anxious to pay the charges, once convinced they are correct.

‘There is nothing I need so much as nourishment for my self-esteem.’

Begin with praise. It is easier to be critical than correct.

If we are so contemptibly selfish that we can’t radiate a little happiness and pass on a bit of honest appreciation without trying to get something out of the other person in return—if our souls are no bigger than sour crab apples, we shall meet with the failure we so richly deserve.

One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.

Appreciation should be honest, not flattery.

When Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House, he confessed that if he could be right 75 per cent of the time, he would reach the highest measure of his expectation.