Business and work quotes (page 9) | Quotes of famous people

“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.

“The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

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.

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Source: Confucius: The Analects

“To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”

Fred Shero (1925–1990) Former ice hockey player and coach

Glenn
Liebman
Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners
1996
70, 113 & 229
Contemporary Books
0-8092-3351-7

“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

“You have to believe in it to get it…”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

Source: Heart of the Sea

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

“Life is to be lived, not controlled.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Three Men in a Boat

Variant: I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
Source: Three Men in a Boat (1889), Ch. 15.
Context: It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.