How to Win Friends & Influence People

PART 1: FUNDAMENTAL TECHNIQUES IN HANDLING PEOPLE

• Principle 1- Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
• Principle 2- Give honest and sincere appreciation.
• Principle 3- Arouse in the other person an eager want.

PART 2- SIX WAYS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU

• Principle 1- Become genuinely interested in other people.
• Principle 2- Smile.
• Principle 3- Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
• Principle 4- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
• Principle 5- Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
• Principle 6- Make the other person feel important- and do it sincerely.

PART 3- HOW TO WIN PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING

• Principle 1- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
• Principle 2- Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
• Principle 3- If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
• Principle 4- Begin in a friendly way.
• Principle 5- Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
• Principle 6- Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
• Principle 7- Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
• Principle 8- Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
• Principle 9- Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
• Principle 10- Appeal to nobler motives.
• Principle 11- Dramatize your ideas!
• Principle 12- Throw down a challenge.

PART 4- BE A LEADER: HOW TO CHANGE PEOPLE WITHOUT GIVING OFFENSE OR AROUSING RESENTMENT

• Principle 1- Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
• Principle 2- Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
• Principle 3- Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
• Principle 4- Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
• Principle 5- Let the other person save face.
• Principle 6- Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
• Principle 7- Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
• Principle 8- Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
• Principle 9- Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

I liked this quote on page 100:
"If we are so contemptibly selfish that we cant 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 the failure we so richly deserve."
-I think most of this book, if not the entirety, is simply about being unselfish and putting the other person's wants before one's own. I truly strive to do so daily, because I genuinely want what the other person wants and I want them to be happy.

I liked this quote on page 111:
"Talk to people about themselves and they will listen for hours."
-It's true, people love talking about themselves. I know I do. And to be genuine and sincere in your want to listen to the other person and hear their stories that make them who they are. I think that's truly amazing.

A Socrates quote on page 124:
"Only one thing I know, and that is that I know nothing."
Absolutely. Constantly, I'm thinking I know everything and nothing at the exact same time. Life, I've found, is extremely convoluted like that.