“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
Business quotes
A collection of quotes on the topic of success, back to work, for team, leadership.
Best business quotes
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
Dale Carnegie book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Source: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), p. 237. Part 8 : How I Conquered Worry,
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer
Source: P.S. I Love You
“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“Do not wait; the time will never be "just right."”
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Laozi in the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64
Misattributed, Chinese
Business quotes
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Samuel Beckett book Worstward Ho
Worstward Ho (1983)
Variant: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Context: All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author
Preface to Transit of Venus: Poems by Harry Crosby (1931)
Socrates (-470–-399 BC) classical Greek Athenian philosopher
This is actually a quotation http://books.google.com/books?id=FUIHmRHf8SUC&lpg=PA130&dq=%22not%20on%20fighting%20the%20old%20but%20on%20building%20the%20new%22&pg=PA130#v=onepage&q=%22not%20on%20fighting%20the%20old%20but%20on%20building%20the%20new%22&f=false from a character named Socrates in Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_the_Peaceful_Warrior, by Dan Millman. <br class="br">Misattributed
“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
Shared on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MayaAngelou/posts/10150251846629796, July 4, 2011
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)
Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich
Variant: Do not wait: the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.
Source: Think and Grow Rich (1938), p. 127
Context: Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”
John Wayne (1907–1979) American film actor
“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”
Herman Melville (1818–1891) American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet
Hawthorne and His Mosses (1850)
Context: It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness.
Context: It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great. Failure is the true test of greatness. And if it be said, that continual success is a proof that a man wisely knows his powers, — it is only to be added, that, in that case, he knows them to be small. Let us believe it, then, once for all, that there is no hope for us in these smooth pleasing writers that know their powers.
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
Frequently attributed to Nin, but without cited source in her work (possibly due to a quotation in Living on Purpose: Straight Answers to Universal Questions (2000) by Dan Millman that attributed the quote to Nin without source).
In March 2013, a former Director of Public Relations at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Elizabeth Appell, claimed she had authored the quote in 1979 for an inspirational header on a class schedule: http://anaisninblog.skybluepress.com/2013/03/who-wrote-risk-is-the-mystery-solved/
Disputed
Variant: The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
“I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman
“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”
Bill Cosby (1937) American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
“Tough times never last, but tough people do. ”
Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American television evangelist
“Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.”
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
“It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra
Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), Love has always passed me by
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Attributed to Winston Churchill in The Prodigal Project : Book I : Genesis (2003) by Ken Abraham and Daniel Hart, p. 224 and other places, though no source attribution is given. It actually derives from an advertising campaign for Budweiser beer in the late 1930s.
Misattributed
Variant: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Source: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/03/success-final/
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
As quoted in The Federal Career Service: A Look Ahead (1954)
1950s
Variant: Now I think, speaking roughly, by leadership we mean the art of getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
“All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist
This has become attributed to both Walt Whitman and Helen Keller, but has not been found in either of their published works, and variations of the quote are listed as a proverb commonly used in both the US and Canada in A Dictionary of American Proverbs (1992), edited by Wolfgang Mieder, Kelsie B. Harder and Stewart A. Kingsbury.
Misattributed
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) British naturalist, author of "On the origin of species, by means of natural selection"
volume I, chapter VI: "The Voyage", page 266 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=284&itemID=F1452.1&viewtype=image; letter to sister Susan Elizabeth Darwin (4 August 1836) <br class="br">The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887) <br class="br">Source: The Life & Letters of Charles Darwin
“To be in company is not to be with someone, but to be in someone.”
Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet
Estar en compañía no es estar con alguien, sino estar en alguien.
Voces (1943)
“Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. ”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate
“Every problem is a gift - without problems we would not grow.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
Context: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker
“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
Carlos Castaneda book Journey to Ixtlan
Variant: We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same
Source: Journey to Ixtlan
J. Paul Getty (1892–1977) American industrialist
As quoted in The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing (2003) by Pat Dorsey & Joe Mansueto, p. 234
Attributed
“To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.”
Henry J. Heinz (1844–1919) American businessman
Henry J. Heinz, cited in: John Woolf Jordan (1915). Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania. p. 38
“A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.”
William Greenough Thayer Shedd (1820–1894) American theologian
Attributed without citation in Gary Ninneman, C.I.A.: Church in Atrophy (Xulon Press, 2006), p. 167. This is possibly a confusion with John Augustus Shedd.
“Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.”
Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker
“To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. ”
Tom Watson (1874–1956) American businessman
“I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.”
Lily Tomlin (1939) American actress, comedian, writer, and producer
“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.”
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
As quoted in Trigger Events – How To Find Your Next Customer (2007) by Alen Majer, p. 22
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Misattributed
Source: This is actually from Zora Neale Hurston, <i>Dust Tracks On the Road,</i> though it is widely attributed to Ms. Angelou's book, <i>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.</i>
“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”
John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach
Wooden only repeated a common aphorism (e.g. Interview on Charlie Rose, reported by Bill Walton), which was already in circulation as early as the 1920s, when he was a youth. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbs=bks%3A1%2Ccdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3AJan+1_2+1900%2Ccd_max%3ADec+31_2+1930&q=%22fail+to+prepare%22+%22prepare+to+fail%22 <br class="br">Misattributed
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.”
Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist
“Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
“Life is to be lived, not controlled.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Business opportunities are like buses; there’s always another one coming.”
Richard Branson (1950) English business magnate, investor and philanthropist
“You have to believe in it to get it…”
Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer
Source: Heart of the Sea
“When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing”
Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States
1900s, A Square Deal (1903)
Context: Among ourselves we differ in many qualities of body, head, and heart; we are unequally developed, mentally as well as physically. But each of us has the right to ask that he shall be protected from wrong-doing as he does his work and carries his burden through life. No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing; and this is a prize open to every man, for there can be no better worth doing than that done to keep in health and comfort and with reasonable advantages those immediately dependent upon the husband, the father, or the son. There is no room in our healthy American life for the mere idler, for the man or the woman whose object it is throughout life to shirk the duties which life ought to bring. Life can mean nothing worth meaning, unless its prime aim is the doing of duty, the achievement of results worth achieving.
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker
“Attitude, not Aptitude, determines Altitude.”
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American motivational speaker
Variant: Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.
“no expectations, no disappointments!”
Eric Jerome Dickey (1961) American author
Sleeping with Strangers
Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym
Source: The Devil and Miss Prym [O Demônio e a srta Prym] (2000), p. x; this has also been misquoted as "A moment is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny."
Context: When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher
Variant: Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
"Helen and Teacher: The Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy", Joseph P. Lash (1980) http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/04/21/together/
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player
As quoted in Weird Ideas That Work : 11 1/2 practices for promoting, managing, and sustaining innovation (2001) by Robert I. Sutton, p. 95
“This is the chance to fulfill a dream.”
Elon Musk (1971) South African-born American entrepreneur
Conversation: Elon Musk on Wired Science (2007)
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.
Quoted in Steve Jobs, the Journey Is the Reward (1988) by Jeffrey S. Young ISBN 155802378X
1980s
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French
As quoted in The Military Quotation Book (2002) by James Charlton, p. 93
Attributed
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) French writer and aviator
The earliest appearance yet located of this statement is in 50 Ways to Lose Ten Pounds (1995) by Joan Horbiak, p. 95, where it is quoted as an anonymous proverb. It seems to have circulated as such for a few years before it began to be attributed to Saint Exupéry around 2007.
Disputed
“It's not how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit…and keep moving forward.”
Randy Pausch book The Last Lecture
The Last Lecture (2008)
Alireza Kohany (1993) Musician, Actor, Entrepreneur
Source: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Business_In_Simple_Language/aiXfDwAAQBAJ
“Identify your problems but give your power and energy to solutions”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
“I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author
“The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer
Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer
As quoted in The Ring of Truth (2004) by Joseph O'Day
“There's no luck in business. There's only drive, determination, and more drive.”
Sophie Kinsella book Shopaholic Abroad
Source: Shopaholic Takes Manhattan
“Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.”
Eric Roth (1945) American screenwriter
Source: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Screenplay
“Your attitude determines your altitude.”
Zig Ziglar
200 Motivational and inspirational Quotes That Will Inspire Your Success
Variant: Your attitude determines your altitude. - Zig Ziglar
“Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
Statement of January 1991, as quoted in Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (2007) by Andrew Kilpatrick
“Do for yourself, for no one else will.”
Johanna Lindsey (1952–2019) American writer
Source: A Heart So Wild
Martin Luther King, Jr. book Strength to Love
Strength to Love, p. 25
1960s, Strength to Love (1963)
Context: The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.
“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”
Jimmy Johnson (1928) American Chicago blues guitarist and singer
“When I hear somebody sigh that "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?"”
Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) American journalist
"Purely Personal Prejudices" http://books.google.com/books?id=DLcEAQAAIAAJ&q=%22When+I+hear+somebody+sigh+that+Life+is+hard+I+am+always+tempted+to+ask+Compared+to+what%22&pg=PA241#v=onepage <br class="br">Strictly Personal (1953)
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
David Brinkley (1920–2003) American journalist
“The road to success is always under construction”
Lily Tomlin (1939) American actress, comedian, writer, and producer
“They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”
Andy Warhol book The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
Source: 1975, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975), Ch. 7: Time
Source: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
“Your attitude determines your altitude”
Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
Tom Schulman (1950) American film director, screenwriter
Variant: No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world
Source: Dead Poets Society
“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer
Variant: Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.