The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.
- Mark Zuckerberg
Notable Quotables
The IRS! They’re like the Mafia, they can take anything they want!
- Jerry Seinfeld
When I finally retire, I just want to go away so no one has to listen to me.
- Steve Martin
I think we are not serious about attacking the long-term debt problem, and that’s one of the things that he’s going to have to find a way to get on the agenda.
- Michael Bloomberg
Most answers to the contrarian question are different ways of seeing the present, good answers are as close as we can come to looking into the future.
- Peter Thiel
Recovery continues to gain momentum on a global basis.
- John Chambers
I totally understand that people are upset about it and I think that is a reasonable point of view to take.
- Sergey Brin
The most important thing to understand is that the job of a big company executive is very different from the job of a small company executive. When I was managing thousands of people at Hewlett-Packard after the sale of Opsware, there was an incredible number of incoming demands on my time. Everyone wanted a piece of me. Little companies wanted to partner with me or sell themselves to me, people in my organization needed approvals, other business units needed my help, customers wanted my attention, and so forth. As a result, I spent most of my time optimizing and tuning the existing business. Most of the work that I did was “incoming.” In fact, most skilled big company executives will tell you that if you have more than three new initiatives in a quarter, you are trying to do too much. As a result, big company executives tend to be interrupt-driven. In contrast, when you are a startup executive, nothing happens unless you make it happen. In the early days of a company, you have to take eight to ten new initiatives a day or the company will stand still. There is no inertia that’s putting the company in motion. Without massive input from you, the company will stay at rest.
- Ben Horowitz
Our improvement and innovative ideas have never been hindered by our proven record, which instead has paved the way for determined, practical development and new directions.
- Cheng Yu-tung
If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions they will be moved to act.
- Bill Gates
A great accomplishment shouldn’t be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward.
- Harvey Mackay
Victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats.
- Og Mandino
I mean, there’s no arguing. There is no anything. There is no beating around the bush. ‘You’re fired’ is a very strong term.
- Donald Trump
A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.
- Herb Kelleher
If you have your health, if you have people in your life to love, you are blessed. Slow down and enjoy the simple things in life.
- Joel Olsteen
Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
- Zig Ziglar
If you’re going to have to swallow a frog, you don’t want to have to look at that sucker too long!
- Zig Ziglar
I believe it’s less risky long-term to embrace change.
- Charles Ergen
Another challenge is a phenomenon that I call the Law of Crappy People. The Law of Crappy People states: For any title level in a large organization, the talent on that level will eventually converge to the crappiest person with the title.
- Ben Horowitz
One reason to buy a watch (or a book) is because you want to possess it, show it off, give it to your grandchildren. Holding a book is a luxury, one for which you pay a premium.
- Seth Godin
Be ready for problems–you’ll have them every day. Keep open to new ideas–that’s where innovation begins.
- Donald Trump
(Physics is) a good framework for thinking. … Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.
- Elon Musk
I am looking to buy companies that are run by painters. Most great artists have a hard time letting go of their paintings. That’s because the joy is not in the finished work, the joys is in the painting. They are constantly adding a dab of color here, a little more texture there. I’m looking for the boss who is always tweaking his company, constantly trying to make it better. No matter how successful he may have already been, what he still sees is a master-piece-in-progress.
- Warren Buffett
I believe in God, family, and McDonald’s. And in the office, that order is reversed.
- Ray Kroc
We modeled our employee stock ownership plan after Sam’s, and it worked well for us.
- Bernie Marcus
Sometimes, we’re so focused on being consistent that we also lower the bar on amazing.
- Seth Godin
[As a child] I would just question things…
- Elon Musk
Look after the customers and the business will take care of itself.
- Ray Kroc
I think if you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve got to dream big and then dream bigger.
- Howard Schultz
An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
- Winston Churchill
If you learn a profession well and work hard, your future is secure and you will inevitably rise to the top, drive a fast car, and find beautiful people of the opposite sex pursuing you relentlessly. Like so many romantic promises, this is an illusion. What your parents and professors don’t tell you is that the closer you get to the top, the better you must know how to sell because everyone at the top sells better. If you are going to the top of your profession you must sell well, too.
- Jerry Vass
The Group has three areas. The first is Henderson Land the listed company. Now it has a total developable land bank of 75 million square feet of gross floor area in China. I hope that in the next two or three months that figure can rise to 150 million square feet. That would be a remarkable feet. So, Henderson is one hope. The second is Hong Kong and China Gas, which I also have high hopes for. In the mainland we already have had many projects in 12 cities there. No, actually I mean, we have projects in 55 cities in 12 provinces. Probably about 60 in total that we are working on. So that is the second area. The third area or hope is Shau Kee Finance. It’s assets have already doubled from $50 billion and I hope they can double again to $200 billion.
- Lee Shau Kee
Trump has been very influential in helping me expand by vision. Sometimes I talk to Donald two or three times a day, and he’s taught me many things. The best thing was a story he tells me about buying a building. When he built Trump Tower he also bought the rights to use the Tiffany name on the building. It was gonna be Tiffany Tower. He late father said, Yeah right. When you change your name to Tiffany, you call it Tiffany Tower. But for now, you call it Trump. Over a period of years whenever he was in trouble, his name and his promotion of himself as a brand are what saved him. I keep that lesson in mind. I remember how connecting Def Comedy Jam to Def Jam records helped both entities – associating HBO with an established hip-hop brand helped get the show on the air, while linking the label to a hot TV show helped the label survive a cold period.
- Russell Simmons
If they really don’t want to buy the flats, I’ll take their deposits.
- Lee Shau Kee
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
With Windows 8, Microsoft is trying to gain market share in what has been dominated by the iPad-type device. But a lot of those users are frustrated. They can’t type. They can’t create documents.
- Bill Gates
Present my story and the difficulties that I have faced. As an entrepreneur, a CEO.
- Ben Horowitz
Every entrepreneur should plan to be the last mover in her particular market. That starts with asking yourself: what will the world look like 10 and 20 years from now, and how will my business fit in?
- Peter Thiel
[On Twitter] This company is bigger than any individual.
- Jack Dorsey
When you give directives to a child, especially a teenager, you must consider the nature of your child.
- Zig Ziglar
The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader’s charisma. What matters is the leader’s mission.
- Peter Drucker
Rich countries can afford to overpay for things.
- Bill Gates
The way to develop decisiveness is to start right where you are, with the very next question you face.
- Napoleon Hill
Every time you walk down the street people are screaming, ‘You’re fired!’
- Donald Trump
If your temper is aroused and you tell ’em a thing or two, you will have a fine time unloading your feelings. But what about the other fellow? Will he share your pleasure? Will your belligerent tones, your hostile attitude, make it easy for him to agree with you? If you come at me with your fists doubled, said Wood row Wilson, I think I can promise you that mine will double as fast as yours; but if you come to me and say, ‘Let us sit down and take counsel together, and, if we differ from one another, understand why it is that we differ from one another, just what the points at issue are,’ we will presently find that we are not so far apart after all, that the points on which we differ are few and the points on which we agree are many, and that if we only have the patience and the candor and the desire to get together, we will get together.
- Dale Carnegie
The special prosecutor basically supported what we had told the Board of Elections all along.
- Michael Ward
I absolutely don’t have $20 billion. But I’d love to, right?
- Jack Ma
The air of the English is down-to-earth. They care about details; there’s a tradition, but there’s also a counter-culture: the younger generation versus the older generation and so on. But then that’s well blended into a happy balance and crystallised into common sense.
- Tadashi Yanai
While 9:00 to 5:00 and what happens in the job is important… what happens from 5:00 – 9:00 while you’re off the job is INFINITELY more important.
- Zig Ziglar
We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape us.
- Winston Churchill
I’m a normal guy.
- Jack Ma
Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting?
- Ray Kroc
We learn by doing.
- Aristotle
Athletic skills are acquired over a long period of time and after countless hours of practice.
- Zig Ziglar
You know, Saudi Arabia has a lot of poverty also. Regardless about what you hear about the viceroy and people being rich, et cetera.
- Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Alsaud
Patience is a virtue, and I’m learning patience. It’s a tough lesson.
- Elon Musk
But each country has to advance and move at its own speed.
- Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Alsaud
Those who do not know how to fight worry die young.
- Dale Carnegie
If I go public, I’ll stick to it.
- David Novak
I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic.
- Steve Martin
You can’t manage what you can’t measure.
- Peter Drucker
We had been kicked out of one bank… The second, it was touch and go…
- Phil Knight
My first large-scale community development opportunity was the formation of the Mission Viejo Co. – a partnership with the O’Neill Family, who owned Rancho Mission Viejo. As the young president of the company, I had the responsibility for master planning, master building and implementing the new community’s development plans.
- Donald Bren
Politics and government are certainly among the most important of practical human interests.
- P.T. Barnum
Don’t say anything you can’t prove.
- Jerry Vass
Positive thinking won’t allow you to do anything, but it will allow you to do everything better than negative thinking will.
- Zig Ziglar
If inflation-adjusted interest rates decline in a given country, its currency is likely to decline.
- Ray Dalio
I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
- Warren Buffett
I have asked thousands of business people to smile at someone every hour of the day for a week and then come to class and talk about the results.
- Dale Carnegie
I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument— and that is to avoid it. Avoid it as you would avoid rattlesnakes and earthquakes.
- Dale Carnegie
Giving feels good, but it’s also good for the bottom line. Charity is a viable growth strategy for a lot ofcompanies. Our customers get excited to be a part of what we’re doing. If you ask anyone wearing Toms how they first heard about us, most won’t mention an advertisement; they’ll say a friend told them our story.
- Blake Mycoskie
Owners don’t fire all the players. They fire the leader and bring in someone they hope the players will buy into.
- Napoleon Hill
After putting economics aside, I found that there were two primary reasons why people quit: They hated their manager; generally the employees were appalled by the lack of guidance, career development, and feedback they were receiving. They weren’t learning anything: The company wasn’t investing resources in helping employees develop new skills.
- Ben Horowitz
Whatever happens, you’re responsible. If it doesn’t happen, you’re responsible.
- Donald Trump
It is very difficult to get people to focus on the most important things when you’re in boom times.
- Jeff Bezos
What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” This question sounds easy because it’s straightforward. Actually, it’s very hard to answer. It’s intellectually difficult because the knowledge that everyone is taught in school is by definition agreed upon.
- Peter Thiel
When you allow what someone says or does to upset you, you’re allowing that person to control you.
- Joel Olsteen
Using people to leverage a refined process multiplies production, using people as a solution to a poor process multiplies problems.
- Timothy Ferriss
History is written by the victors.
- Winston Churchill
Wrong Selection Of A Vocation
- Napoleon Hill
I’ve always been fascinated by cities and how they work. And I taught myself how to program so I can understand how the city works.
- Jack Dorsey
There is no decision that we can make that doesn’t come with some sort of balance or sacrifice
- Simon Sinek
We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.
- Winston Churchill
A battery by definition is a collection of cells. So the cell is a little can of chemicals. And the challenge is taking a very high-energy cell, and a large number of them, and combining them safely into a large battery.
- Elon Musk
There are very few people who really appreciate my shows. People come to the show and they pay and they enjoy it, but I don’t really think most people really understand what they’ve seen.
- Jerry Seinfeld
When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
- Winston Churchill
God wants us to live consistently, He wants us to enjoy every single day of our lives.
- Joel Olsteen
I own my business. My business doesn’t own me.
- Cherie Ve Ard
A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate
- Seth Godin
One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes.
- Richard Branson
Good action today will produce good living tomorrow.
- Zig Ziglar
This book, then, is a product of the last fifteen years, as well as a product of the fifteen years that preceded them. It was almost exactly eight years before The E-Myth was published that I founded our company, E-Myth Worldwide, which has provided the fuel and experience for the point of view I have shared with those of you who have read The E-Myth, and with those.
- Michael Gerber
Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what do I want to do everyday for the rest of my life…do that.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
I guess Mr. Walton just had a personality that drew people in. He would yell at you from a block away, you know. He would just yell at everybody he saw, and that’s the reason so many liked him and did business in his store. It was like he brought in business by his being so friendly. (on role of managing partner)
- Inez Threet
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities – but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
- Winston Churchill
Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
- George Washington Carver
When it call comes down to it, nothing trumps execution.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
We have a mantra: don’t be evil, which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers, for everyone. So I think if we were known for that, it would be a wonderful thing.
- Larry Page
When your desires are strong enough you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.
- Napoleon Hill
I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding, they learn by some other way—by rote or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!
- Richard P. Feynman
