From New York Times:
The truth which this book lays down, and the precepts it offers, are as simple as the copybook and as universal as humanity. In a brisk, cheerful, easy style, enlivened and emphasized by personal anecdote, this authority on “public speaking and human relationships” tells us to smile and be friendly, not to argue or find fault, to get the other person’s point of view, encourage and praise him, let him talk all he wants to and persuade him that all the good ideas are his. He advises us also never to tell another person that he is wrong, but adds that if we are wrong ourselves we can turn a liability into an asset by admitting it “quickly and emphatically.” If we do all that, we are pretty sure to win friends. And if in addition we have the wit to dramatize our own ideas, our salesmanship will profit the more.

Mr. Carnegie’s book offers very good advice on bad assumptions. The good is in the simple, sound, practical advice of Mr. Carnegie’s counsel, and the lively and well-illustrated directness with which it is given. There is a great deal of that kind of good in this book. But there is bad, too, in the suggestion that the superficial cultivation of “personality” may take the place of a sound foundation of knowledge, intelligence and ability.

By all means let us follow the sensible advice so cheerfully offered in Mr. Carnegie’s pages. And at the same time let us try to keep our balance and clarity of thought. You cannot gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, and there is no royal road to any kind of success or happiness. But improvement in tact and imagination may indeed make us more efficient and more agreeable. And a genuine understanding of our fellows is a thing worth working for, for its own sake.

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