“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

Variant: You can make more friends in two months by being interested in them, than in two years by making them interested in you.
Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), p. 52 (in 1998 edition)

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Dale Carnegie 98
American writer and lecturer 1888–1955

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