Upon the sacredness of property civilization itself depends-the right of the laborer to his hundred dollars in the savings bank, and equally the legal right of the millionaire to his millions.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of property rights for both the laborer and the wealthy, as foundational to civilization.
Andrew Carnegie's quote underscores the essential role that property rights play in maintaining the structure of civilization. By asserting that both the modest savings of a laborer and the vast wealth of a millionaire are equally sacred, Carnegie highlights the significance of legal rights to ownership as crucial for societal stability and progress. This perspective advocates for a system where all individuals, regardless of their economic standing, are afforded the same respect for their property.
In practice
In a speech about economic fairness, one could use this quote to illustrate the essential nature of property rights.
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.
I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts; but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere; and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue and freedom, would be my choice.
Man has his future within him, dynamically alive at this present moment.
Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) is to the heart as water is to a fish; see what happens to a fish when it is taken out of water
As we dread any disease that undermines the health of the body, so should we deplore contention, which is a corroding canker of the spirit.
ZEUS /n./ The chief of Grecian gods, adored by the Romans as Jupiter and by the modern Americans as God, Gold, Mob and Dog.
What makes me myself rather than anyone else is the very fact that I am poised between two countries, two or three languages, and several cultural traditions. It is precisely this that defines my identity. Would I exist more authentically if I cut off a part of myself
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