I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle.
Interpretation
Strong individuals understand the importance of compromise to uphold greater principles.
In this quote, Andrew Carnegie highlights the wisdom of strong men who recognize that not all principles are absolute. Instead, they know that sometimes it's necessary to compromise on certain values in order to uphold and serve a higher moral or ethical principle, demonstrating a nuanced understanding of strength and leadership.
In practice
In a team meeting discussing project deadlines and responsibilities.
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.
Now is the time to know that all that you do is sacred... Now is the time for you to deeply compute the impossibility that there is anything but grace.
I get as much fun as the next man from whaling the ball as hard as I can and catching it squarely on the button. But from sad experience I learned not to try this in a round that meant anything.
Learn to humble yourself, you are but earth and clay.
The more sensitive you are, the more certain you are to be brutalized, develop scabs, never evolve. Never allow yourself to feel anything, because you always feel to much.
The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it.
The wise man reads both books and life itself.
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