There is no education like adversity.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Notable Quotables
We were pretty schizophrenic. We were going to take on the world, but we couldn’t make payroll.
- Phil Knight
It may look impossible, but God can do the impossible. Just because you don’t see anything happening doesn’t mean God is not working.
- Joel Olsteen
I think I may not be able to retire.
- Tadashi Yanai
I don’t think anyone is ever writing so that you can throw it away. You’re always writing it to be something. Later, you decide whether it’ll ever see the light of day. But at the moment of its writing, it’s always meant to be something. So, to me, there’s no practicing; there’s only editing and publishing or not publishing.
- Steve Martin
Hay una divinidad que forja nuestros fines, por mucho que queramos alterarlos.
- Dale Carnegie
We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Advertising is to a genuine article what manure is to land, – it largely increases the product.
- P.T. Barnum
Investing in courage and determination was an easy decision for me.
- Ben Horowitz
Organizations that achieve both market and operating focus are nearly unbeatable Customers don’t buy products or services. They buy results. They were designed to break what Schlesinger and his colleagues called the cycle of failure practiced by many of Au Bon Pain’s competitors who paid their employees and managers low wages, offered them little training and other support, and suffered high turnover of employees and limited customer loyalty as a result.
- James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser and Leonard
The proposed abolishment of estate duty by the Hong Kong Government will contribute to establish Hong Kong as a regional financial centre as well as an asset management hub.
- Lee Shau Kee
Market the change; be bold. Remember don’t be a bad ad, be a good one.
- David Novak
I’m skeptical that the novel will be ‘re-invented.’
- Jeff Bezos
Taking care of your employees is extremely important and very, very visible.
- Larry Ellison
People are chasing cash, not happiness. When you chase money, you’re going to lose. You’re just going to. Even if you get the money, you’re not going to be happy.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.
- Henry Ford
When you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.
- Winston Churchill
This is why so many small and medium-sized businesses don’t use tools that bigger firms take for granted. It’s not that small business proprietors are unusually backward or that good tools don’t exist: distribution is the hidden bottleneck.
- Peter Thiel
Failures are life’s way of nudging you and letting you know you are off course. Trying new things and not being afraid to fail along the way are more important than what you learn in school.
- Sara Blakely
I have 2 million Twitter followers. Some of those people are also yogis and activists and people who really go out and make a difference. I do as much as I can with my voice. It’s effortless in some cases. I try to remind everybody that they have that kind of voice.
- Russell Simmons
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
I don’t get caught up in the moment.
- Ray Dalio
Know what your people are like, and make sure they do their jobs excellently.
- Ray Dalio
Spare the conquered and confront the proud.
- Winston Churchill
MacDonald has the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thought.
- Winston Churchill
Okay, let’s talk about cartoon labels for half a second – some people think anything with a dog or a car or a colorful alien is garbage, which is not true. Look at Big Moose Red. It’s, like, a $6 wine with a cheesy label, and it’s actually a solid wine.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
This proves our strategy is working in terms of the convergence of voice, video and data.
- John Chambers
Hope is the power that gives a person the confidence to step out and try.
- Zig Ziglar
Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
- Warren Buffett
The great thing about fact-based decisions is that they overrule the hierarchy.
- Jeff Bezos
You need to follow your own heart in light of God’s word and do what you feel is right and good for you.
- Joel Olsteen
Capitalism works.
- Michael Bloomberg
I actually think every individual is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not.
- Reid Hoffman
We don’t have as many managers as we should, but we would rather have too few than too many.
- Larry Page
I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.
- Oprah Winfrey
I know something about how to build constituencies in an independent way.
- Michael Bloomberg
Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, ‘Too much of a good thing can be wonderful’.
- Warren Buffett
They (the competition) need to avoid coming at us head-on, and do their own thing better than we do ours. It doesn’t make any sense to try to underprice Wal-Mart (DJC) on something like toothpaste (DJ Prices). That’s not what the customer is looking to a small store for anyway. Most independents are best off, I think, doing what I prided myself on doing for many years as a storekeeper, getting out on the floor and meeting everyone of the customers. Let them know how much you appreciate them, and ring that cash register yourself. That little personal touch is so important for an independent merchant because no matter how hard Wal-Mart tries to duplicate – and we try awfully hard – we can’t really do it.
- Sam Walton
Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.
- Thomas Edison
We can never own property (because of property taxes) we can just control it (by renting it from the government by paying taxes).
- Robert Kiyosaki
You can succeed at almost anything for which you have unbridled enthusiasm.
- Zig Ziglar
And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
- Romans 8:28
I have the best job I could possibly have.
- Michael Bloomberg
There is always room for those who can be relied upon to delivery the goods when they say they will.
- Napoleon Hill
Dinosaurs did not walk with humans. The evolutionary record says different. They gambled.
- Steve Martin
I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. I actually wanted to be Bruce Lee.
- Jack Dorsey
Life really happens at intersections.
- Jack Dorsey
You either trust someone day one until they prove you wrong, or you say, ‘I don’t trust you until you show me I can trust you.’ I’m the latter.
- Charles Ergen
What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do. As I have heard said, a person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have. Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.
- Timothy Ferriss
I DECLARE that God has a great plan for my life. He is directing my steps. And even though I may not always understand how, I know my situation is not a surprise to God. He will work out every detail to my advantage. In His perfect timing, everything will turn out right. This is my declaration.
- Joel Olsteen
If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
- Bill Gates
Our culture is friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we’ll settle for intense.
- Jeff Bezos
Amateurs wait for inspiration. The real pros get up and go to work.
- Harvey Mackay
For any business to grow, individuals must be accountable for each of the systems, and a general overall director must be in charge of making sure all the systems operate at the highest capacity.
- Robert Kiyosaki
Without passion, you don’t have energy; without energy, you have nothing. Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.
- Donald Trump
From the Renaissance and the Enlightenment to the mid-20th century, luck was something to be mastered, dominated, and controlled; everyone agreed that you should do what you could, not focus on what you couldn’t. Ralph Waldo Emerson captured this ethos when he wrote: “Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances.… Strong men believe in cause and effect.
- Peter Thiel
We had gotten people’s attention. So a lot of American shoe distributors were going to Japan and telling Onitsuka, ‘Well, if this two-bit outfit up in the woods in Oregon can do this kind of business, wait till you get somebody that’s really in the business.
- Phil Knight
when the fierce, burning winds blow over our lives-and we cannot prevent them-let us, too, accept the inevitable. And then get busy and pick up the pieces.
- Dale Carnegie
By working only when you are most effective, life is both more productive and more enjoyable. It’s the perfect example of having your cake and eating it, too.
- Timothy Ferriss
The nuclear approach I’m involved in is called a traveling-wave reactor, which uses waste uranium for fuel. There’s a lot of things that have to go right for that dream to come true – many decades of building demo plants, proving the economics are right. But if it does, you could have cheaper energy with no CO2 emissions.
- Bill Gates
Extraordinary results are directlydetermined by how narrow you can make your focus.
- Gary Keller
A false transaction using my own people to buy the flat? I’ll make a bet with you. For every $10,000 you put down, I’ll wager $1 million.
- Lee Shau Kee
Inability to Cooperate With Others.
- Napoleon Hill
Winelibrary.tv was about building personal brand equity. It was a business move. Now, it was totally surrounded by a passion for wine, but I very much gave a lot of thought to doing a sports-video blog instead.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.
- Colin Powell
I’m a constant learner. You need to be a constant student because things change and you have to change and grow. And I emphasize the word ‘grow.’
- Zig Ziglar
Our goal is not to build a platform, it’s to be cross all of them.
- Mark Zuckerberg
I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire.
- Winston Churchill
Change means opportunity for those with the experience and confidence to look to the future.
- Cheng Yu-tung
Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another.
- Seth Godin
Passion isn’t project-specific. It’s people-specific.
- Seth Godin
You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.
- Zig Ziglar
Never consider the possibility of failure. As long as you persist, you will be successful.
- Brian Tracy
If you want to be inventive — you have to be willing to fail.
- Jeff Bezos
My wheels are running. My investments are local, regional and international.
- Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Alsaud
I do limit my exposure to the public. You only have so much time.
- Donald Bren
When sales people don’t know what to do, they talk. The ordinary salesperson vomits the presentation onto the Buyer’s desktop.
- Jerry Vass
Microsoft’s an important partner for Dell, an important company in the industry.
- Michael Dell
I ask every participant to think about who their personal business mentors have been and why. I tell them my own business hero was Andy Pearson and I give them a few Andy stories to illustrate why. Then we break into groups of about twenty to go around in a circle and have each person talk about the person who has mean the most to him…We reconvene in the larger group and discuss some of the traits that were exhibited by the mentors; integrity, passion, inspiration, a positive outlook, and so on. A lot of people said it was someone who, helped me realize what I could achieve or really cared about me as a person. Then I try to get them to go a little deeper. I say, Now suppose that you were a fly on the wall, looking down on this room ten years from now. What would you like people to be saying about you? How would you feel if someone were saying that you were the person who had the greatest impact on his or her professional life?
- David Novak
If you cannot persuade people to do things, you simply will not be a success because you are not an island unto yourself. Everything in life is about persuading people to do what you want them to do.
- David Robinson
The son has not caught me in bed for 50 years.
- Thomas Jefferson
Newport Center has become a Mediterranean town. The climate here is the same as the Mediterranean’s, and so is the architecture. This center exudes a radiance, an energy. It will become a special way of life for everyone.
- Donald Bren
true love is always backed up with actions.
- Joel Olsteen
You jump off a cliff and you assemble an airplane on the way down.
- Reid Hoffman
When I used to play sports, I’d be the one cheering the team on, ‘Come on, we can beat these guys!’ That’s just in me.
- Joel Olsteen
We need a great president.
- Donald Trump
We think a modern cloud lets you decide when you want to upgrade. We don’t decide for you.
- Larry Ellison
Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers. It’s not just about entertainment – it’s about education. Permission marketing is curriculum marketing.
- Seth Godin
If I were to retire, I would keep my family’s interest in the company the same and say, Don’t sell.
- Sheldon Adelson
Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly. The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.
- P.T. Barnum
Nike is not about going to a ball game. It’s a business.
- Phil Knight
Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.
- John C. Maxwell
It’s vital that you accept yourself and learn to be happy with who God made you to be. If you want to truly enjoy your life, you must be at peace with yourself.
- Joel Olsteen
The protestor I think will speak up for the world’s poorest.
- Bill Gates
In boxing, you get hit, it’s painful, then you sit on the stool when the adrenaline is gone and you feel that pain. And then you fight the next round.
- Ben Horowitz
At the start of any business, keeping the cash flowing in is the entrepreneur’s most IMPORTANT JOB.
- Robert Kiyosaki
People were expecting Rouge to go bankrupt, so there was a lot of anxiety. The corporate culture problem was even worse than in Russia. And at the same time, the work rules were more difficult.
- Alexei Mordashov
The act of creation is singular, as is the moment of creation, and the result is something fresh and strange.
- Peter Thiel
Results are gained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.
- Peter Drucker
Windows is probably the most important product in the entire PC industry. Everything we do in terms of supporting touch, new hardware, accessibility has incredible impact.
- Bill Gates