“A quitter never wins-and-a winner never quits.”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author
Variant: A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
Business quotes page 2
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
Karen Lamb (1982) British tennis player
Colin Powell (1937) Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general
As quoted in The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell (2003) by Oren Harari, p. 164.
2000s
“Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great”
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
Earliest citation found in Google Books is from 1993 https://books.google.com/books?id=bdTko5oHTd4C&pg=PA25&dq=%22give+up+the+good+to+go+for+the+great%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiH2e_QivXLAhUps4MKHdf0A9wQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22give%20up%20the%20good%20to%20go%20for%20the%20great%22&f=false, where it is attributed to country-music singer Kenny Rogers. Not found attributed to Rockefeller until 2006 https://books.google.com/books?id=F7OGT9WTiPQC&pg=PA24&dq=%22give+up+the+good%22+%22go+for+the+great%22+rockefeller&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjw_rb9ivXLAhXrmoMKHbgHBqkQ6wEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=%22give%20up%20the%20good%22%20%22go%20for%20the%20great%22%20rockefeller&f=false. <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
“Every man dies, not every man really lives”
Randall Wallace (1949) American filmmaker
Source: Braveheart
“Making money is art. And working is art. And good business is the best art.”
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist
Source: 1975, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (1975), p. 92
Context: Business art is the step that comes after Art. I started as a commercial artist, and I want to finish as a business artist. After I did the thing called 'art' or whatever it's called, I went into business art. I wanted to be an Art Businessman or a Business Artist. Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. During the hippies era people put down the idea of business – they'd say 'Money is bad', and 'Working is bad', but making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author
“The secret to success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
Earl Nightingale (1921–1989) American motivational speaker
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Variant: Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.
Daniel H. Pink book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Source: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
As quoted in News Journal [Mansfield, Ohio] (3 August 1965)
Attributed from posthumous publications
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker”
Adam Smith (1723–1790) Scottish moral philosopher and political economist
Source: The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter II, p. 19.
Source: The Wealth of Nations, Books 1-3
Context: But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour, and shew them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.
“This is the world as it is. This is where you start.”
Saul D. Alinsky (1909–1972) American community organizer and writer
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist
Business @ The Speed of Thought (1999) http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speedofthought/default.asp <br class="br">1990s
“Business has only two functions — marketing and innovation.”
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist
The alchemist, p. 141.
Variant: There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
Source: The Alchemist (1988)
“It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.”
Tom Brokaw (1940) Television journalist
“The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”
Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant
Variant: There is only one valid definition of a business purpose: to create a customer.
Source: 1930s- 1950s, The Practice of Management (1954), p. 37
“The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.”
Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer
Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
Variant: There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wage possible.
“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
“it's wrong to be right; it's right to be wrong.”
Paul Arden (1940–2008) writer
“One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.”
Michael Korda (1933) British writer
Source: Success! (1977), p. 36
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
No known citation to Thoreau's works. First found, uncredited, in the 1940s in the variant "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to look for it", p. 711, Locomotive Engineers Journal, Volume 76, 1942. Google Books http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N6GZAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Success+usually+comes+to+those+who+are+too+busy%22&dq=%22Success+usually+comes+to+those+who+are+too+busy%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1900&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1980&as_brr=0 <br class="br">Misattributed
“You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream.”
Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) Christian apologist, novelist, and Medievalist
Unknown, but also attributed to Les Brown, a motivational speaker. Commonly attributed to C.S. Lewis, but never with a primary source listed.
Misattributed
“Education costs money, but then so does ignorance.”
Claus Moser, Baron Moser (1922–2015) British statistician and Civil Servant
The Daily Telegraph, 21 August 1990 http://www2.gsu.edu/~dscthw/8350/bayes/perfinfo.pdf
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
Quoted by Theodore Dreiser in A Photographic Talk with Edison http://books.google.com/books?id=ZrIYCWaZCjwC&q=%22I+never+did+anything+worth+doing+by+accident%22+%22nor+did+any+of+my+inventions+come+indirectly+through+accident+except+the+phonograph+No+when+I+have+fully+decided+that+a+result+is+worth+getting+I+go+about+it+and+make+trial+after+trial+until+it+comes%22&pg=PA118#v=onepage, Success magazine (February 1898). <br class="br">1800s
Harold Geneen (1910–1997) American businessman
Managing, Chapter Three (Experience and Cash), p. 39.
“The business of business is business.”
Alfred P. Sloan (1875–1966) American businessman
Widely attributed to Milton Friedman, and sometimes cited as being in his work Capitalism and Freedom (1962) this is also attributed to Alfred P. Sloan, sometimes with citation of a statement of 1964, but sometimes with attestations to his use of it as a motto as early as 1923.
Disputed
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.”
Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–1993) Indian spiritual teacher
Quotations from Gurudev’s teachings, Chinmya Mission Chicago
Norman Schwarzkopf (1934–2012) United States Army general
Quoted in "The Military Quotation Book" (2002) by James Charlton, p. 83
Disputed
“The future was not what it used to be.”
K. A. Bedford book Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait
Source: Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait (2008), Chapter 13 (p. 156)
“Don't simply retire from something; have something to retire to.”
Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969) American pastor
As quoted in Wisdom for Our Time (1961) by James Nelson
“You are not in business to be popular.”
Kirstie Alley (1951) American actress
As quoted in Funny Ladies : The Best Humor from America's Funniest Women (2001) by Bill Adler, p. 4
“All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.”
Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 3 : Imagination Unlimited, p. 63; Unsourced variant: All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.
“The business of business is business.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer
Widely attributed to Friedman, and sometimes cited as being in his work Capitalism and Freedom (1962) this is also attributed to Alfred P. Sloan, sometimes with citation of a statement of 1964, but sometimes with attestations to his use of it as a motto as early as 1923.
Disputed
“There's no such thing as not being afraid.”
Robert De Niro (1943) American actor, director and producer
What I've Learned
“A man should never neglect his family for business.”
Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman
Source: How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Magic Every Day of Your Life (2004), Ch. 14 : The Real Walt Disney, p. 361
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in Edison & Ford Quote Book (2003) edited by Edison & Ford Winter Estates.
Date unknown
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
As quoted in Stack the Logs! : Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams (2003) by Frank F. Lunn, p. 45
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
This is presented as a statement of 1877, as quoted in From Telegraph to Light Bulb with Thomas Edison (2007) by Deborah Headstrom-Page, p. 22.
1800s
“The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.”
J. Paul Getty (1892–1977) American industrialist
Attributed
“A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for.”
Sarah Palin (1964) American politician
Taken from a quote of Grace Hopper. [Tropp, Henry S., Fall 1984, Grace Hopper: The Youthful Teacher of Us All, Abacus, 2, 1, p. 18, 0724-6722]
Invoked by Palin at her introduction by Senator John McCain as his choice for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination on .
2014
Henry J. Kaiser (1882–1967) American industrialist
"How to Capture Life's Greatest Values" in Reader's Digest, Vol. 56 (January 1950), p. 18 http://books.google.com/books?id=HlQQAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Live+daringly+boldly+fearlessly+Taste+the+relish+to+be+found+in+competition+in+having+to+put+forth+the+best+within+you%22&pg=PA18#v=onepage
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in: [J. L.] Elkhorne. Edison — The Fabulous Drone, in 73 Vol. XLVI, No. 3 (March 1967) http://www.arimi.it/wp-content/73/03_March_1967.pdf, p. 52 <br class="br">Disputed
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
This quote is commonly attributed to Churchill, but appears in the "Red Herrings: False Attributions" appendix of Churchill by Himself : The Definitive Collection of Quotations (2008) by Richard Langworth, without citation as to where it originates. <br class="br">In American Character, a 1905 address by Brander Matthews, a similar quotation is attributed to L. P. Jacks ( link http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015059451156?urlappend=%3Bseq=238). <br class="br">""Our civilization is a perilous adventure for an uncertain prize... Human society is not a constructed thing but a human organization... We are adopting a false method of reform when we begin by operations that weaken society, either morally or materially, by lower its vitality, by plunging it into gloom and despair about itself, by inducing the atmosphere of the sick-room, and then when its courage and resources are at a low ebb, expecting it to perform some mighty feat of self-reformation... Social despair or bitterness does not get us anywhere... Low spirits are an intellectual luxury. An optimist is one who sees an opportunity in every difficulty. A pessimist is one who sees a difficulty in every opportunity... The conquest of great difficulties is the glory of human nature." L. P. Jacks, quoted in American character, by Brander Matthews, 1906 <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in An Enemy Called Average (1990) by John L. Mason, p. 55.
Date unknown
“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.”
Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) Greek writer
Michael Korda, in Success! (1977), p. 284
Misattributed
“Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in Artifacts : An Archaeologist's Year in Silicon Valley (2001) by Christine Finn. p. 90.
Date unknown
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Truman Capote (1924–1984) American author
From "Self-Portrait" (1972)
Truman Capote: Conversations (1987)
“Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.”
Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist
The Wall Street Journal (December 29, 2011).
Attributed
Elon Musk (1971) South African-born American entrepreneur
Conversation: Elon Musk on Wired Science (2007)
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Misattributed
Variant: We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.
Source: Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers (1926), reprinted in Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, 1991, ISBN 0-671-73916-6], Ch. II: Aristotle and Greek Science; part VII: Ethics and the Nature of Happiness: "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have these because we have acted rightly; 'these virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions'; we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit: 'the good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life... for as it is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy'" (p. 76). The quoted phrases within the quotation are from the Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, 4; Book I, 7. The misattribution is from taking Durant's summation of Aristotle's ideas as being the words of Aristotle himself.
“People are more important than things.”
Randy Pausch book The Last Lecture
The Last Lecture (2008)
Variant: The questions are always more important than the answers."
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive
Simon Sinek (1973) British/American author and motivational speaker
Source: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
movie Dead Poets Society
John Keating character
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
“It always seems impossible until it's done.”
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist
“Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.”
Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
Edward Everett Hale (1822–1909) American author and Unitarian clergyman
“If one does not know to which port is sailing, no wind is favorable.”
Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
Adam Silvera book They Both Die at the End
John Shedd, p. 81
They Both Die at the End (2017)