Quotes about business
page 6

“Later on in life, you expect a bit of rest, don't you? You think you deserve it. I did, anyway. But then you begin to understand that the reward of merit is not life's business.”

Julian Barnes book The Sense of an Ending

Source: The Sense of an Ending

Life, Understanding, Thinking

“Your religious beliefs are your business. They are not and should not be the basis for law. If you use them as justification to discriminate against others, don’t be upset when others decide you’re an asshole."

[]”

Jim C. Hines (1974) American writer

Law

“But money spent while manic doesn't fit into the Internal Revenue Service concept of medical expense or business loss. So after mania, when most depressed, you're given excellent reason to be even more so.”

Kay Redfield Jamison (1946) American bipolar disorder researcher

Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Money, Loss

“No, I do not weep at the world. I'm too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”

Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) American folklorist, novelist, short story writer

How It Feels to Be Colored Me (1928)
Source: Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings
Context: I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to that sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world — I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

World

“We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.”

Bill Watterson (1958) American comic artist

Time

“Wear audacious underwear under the most solemn business attire.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

“Happiness is like a cat. If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you. It will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing up against your legs and jumping into your lap.”

William J. Bennett (1943) American politician

Happiness, Cats

“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn’t
know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder
why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or
steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

“Ninety-eight percent of what goes on in people's heads is none of their smucking business.”

Stephen King book Lisey's Story

Source: Lisey's Story

People

“To deem us simply enemies is to lose the true flavor of our relationship. It was more like the two of us entered into a business partnership in order to more efficiently pursue our mutual interest of hating each other.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Hate, Partnership

“Our story is never written in isolation. We do not act in a one-man play. We can do nothing that does not affect other people, no matter how loudly we say, "It's my own business.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Source: Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art

People

“Go out more, keep cheerful as well as busy, for you are the sunshine-maker of the family, and if you get dismal there is no fair weather.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Family, Weather

“I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

People, Religion, Intelligence

“In our family, you don't get a childhood. We're too busy trying to dominate the world.”

Gordon Korman book The Emperor's Code

Source: The Emperor's Code

World, Family, Childhood

“Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

“When someone's wounded, the first order of business is to stop the bleeding. You can figure out later how best to help them heal.”

Jeannette Walls book Half Broke Horses

Source: Half Broke Horses

Help

“Selling eternal life is an unbeatable business, with no customers ever asking for their money back after the goods are not delivered.”

Victor J. Stenger (1935–2014) American philosopher

Life, Money

“What do we find God 'doing about' this business of sin and evil?…God did not abolish the fact of evil; He transformed it. He did not stop the Crucifixion; He rose from the dead.”

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) English crime writer, playwright, essayist and Christian writer

Essays, The Triumph of Easter (1938)
Source: The Whimsical Christian: 18 Essays

God, Evil, Dead

“The most solid comfort one can fall back upon is the thought that the business of one's life is to help in some small way to reduce the sum of ignorance, degradation and misery on the face of this beautiful earth.”

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator

Life, Beauty, Way, Help

“Business is a game, played for fantastic stakes, and you're in competition with experts. If you want to win, you have to learn to be a master of the game.”

Sidney Sheldon Master of the Game

Source: Master of the Game

Game, Learning

“God's a busy guy. He don't have time to micromanage. What are the chances he heard that? It's early in the morning. He's probably having breakfast with Mrs. God.”

Janet Evanovich (1943) Novelist

Source: Motor Mouth

God, Guy, Chance, Time

“Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that's what.”

Salman Rushdie book The Satanic Verses

Source: The Satanic Verses

“Everybody's got something. In the end, what choice does one really have but to understand that truth, to really take it in, and then shop for groceries, get a haircut, do one's work; get on with the business of one's life.

That's the hope, anyway.”

David Rakoff (1964–2012) writer

Source: Half Empty

Life, Truth, Hope, Understanding

“Splendid to arrive alone in a foreign country and feel the assault of difference. Here they are all along, busy with living; they don't talk or look like me. The rhythm of their day is entirely different; I am foreign.”

Frances Mayes book Under the Tuscan Sun

Source: Under the Tuscan Sun

Feeling, Country

“Let his name be cleared and everyone else adjust their thinking. He had put in time, now they must do the work. His business was simple. Find Cecilia and love her, marry her and live without shame.”

Ian McEwan book Atonement

Source: Atonement

Love, Thinking, Time

“With mind distracted, never thinking, "Death is coming,"
To slave away on the pointless business of mundane life,
And then to come out empty--it is a tragic error. (116)
trans by Robert Thurman”

Huston Smith (1919–2016) Religious studies scholar

Source: Tibetan Book of the Dead

Life, Death, Error, Thinking

“Ooh. Top secret angel business, huh? What’re you going to do? Dance on a pinhead? Lobby for National Cute Puppy Day?”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Dreams

Secret, Angels, Dance

“The Cheesecake Factory is a great business model, but if you take your wife there for your 25th wedding anniversary, you might not reach your 26th.”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

Wedding

“Tend to the people, and they will tend to the business.”

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

Source: The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization

People

“If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether.”

Neil Postman (1931–2003) American writer and academic

Source: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Idea, Appearance

“After the group vet appointment--during which Lyle scratched the vet, the vet tech, and some poor woman minding her own business in the waiting room--we went back to Sabrina's and re-released the cats to their natural habitat.”

Sarah Dessen Lock and Key

Source: Lock and Key

Cats, Nature, Waiting

“Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise.”

Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living

Source: The Importance of Living (1937), p. 150

“I believe it doesn't matter what it is, as long as you can find something concrete to keep you busy while you are living your meaningless life.”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

Life

“Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”

Lucille Ball (1911–1989) American actress and businesswoman

Variant: It doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optismism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself

Life, Faith, Way, Optimism

“It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Different Seasons (1982), Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Variant: Either get busy living or get busy dying
Source: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons

Motivational

“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

“I figured we'd be too busy running for our lives than for him to make a move anyway. (Dana)”

Jenna Black (1965) American writer

Source: Glimmerglass

“We are so busy constantly checking our own temperatures, we fail to notice the burning fevers of others.”

Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) Mormon leader

“But she was seventeen now and not actually dumb. She knew that you could love somebody more than anything and still not love the person all that much, if you were busy with other things.”

Jonathan Franzen book Freedom

Source: Freedom

Love, Personality

“Busy' is another word for 'asshole'. 'Asshole' is another word for the guy you're dating.”

Greg Behrendt (1963) American comedian

Source: He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys

Guy

“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 book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Source: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

“Let us give Nature a chance; she knows her business better than we do.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

Book III, Ch. 13
Essais (1595), Book III
Source: Montaigne: Essays

Nature, Chance

“Without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything, whether it's a relationship, a business or a hobby.”

Neil Strauss book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

Source: The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

“A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human 'wisdom'… and the other twenty percent isn't very important.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Stranger in a Strange Land

Source: Stranger in a Strange Land

Wisdom, People

“Empty pockets never held anyone back…it's only empty heads and empty hearts that do it.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer

"Enthusiasm makes the difference" (2003), p. 58

Heart

“The ship is sinking
The ship is sinking
There's leak, there's a leak, in the boiler room
The poor, the lame, the blind
Who ore the ones that we kept in
charge
Killers, thieves, and lawyers
God's Away, God's away
God's away on Business”

Tom Waits (1949) American singer-songwriter and actor

God

“I was too busy fighting the river to worry about adjusting my beliefs in accordance to reality.”

Patricia Briggs book River Marked

Source: River Marked

Reality, Fight

“My business is that of every other good citizen - to uphold the law.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

Law

“When the government makes loans or subsidies to business, what it does is to tax successful private business in order to support unsuccessful private business.”

Henry Hazlitt (1894–1993) American journalist

Support, Success

“While my insides may be rotten, I still like a good reason to kill someone. It has to be either business, personal, or out of sheer boredom.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: The Maleficent Seven: From the World of Skulduggery Pleasant

Personality

“If money is your hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

Money, World, Hope, Knowledge

“In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those who are doing what they love.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Love, People, World, Success

“Science is a way to call the bluff of those who only pretend to knowledge. It is a bulwark against mysticism, against superstition, against religion misapplied to where it has no business being.”

Carl Sagan book The Demon-Haunted World

Source: The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Religion, Way, Knowledge, Science

“Unfinished business always comes back to haunt you, and a man who swears he'll love you forever isn't finished with you until he's done.”

Alice Hoffman book Here on Earth

Source: Here on Earth

Love

“The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Source: The Works of Schopenhauer: The Wisdom of Life and Other Essays

“It's a man's business to be what he is, and to be it in style.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

“I’ll keep it short and sweet - Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Friendship, Family, Religion

“Besides we are men, and after all it is our business to risk our lives.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Three Musketeers

Source: The Three Musketeers

Men

“I am so busy doing nothing… that the idea of doing anything - which as you know, always leads to something - cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.”

Jerry Seinfeld (1954) American comedian and actor

Idea

“Many invest wisely in business matters, but fail to invest time and interest in their most valued possessions: their spouses and children.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

Source: Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well

Children, Time

“Nobody has a perfect life and it's entirely possible that if you want someone else's life they are busy wanting someone else's too–maybe even yours.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Life, Perfection

“It is better to look suffering straight in the eye, acknowledge and respect it’s presence, and then get busy as soon as possible focusing on things we choose to focus on.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1934) Hungarian American psychologist

Suffering

“A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.”

Eric Hoffer book The True Believer

Section 10
The True Believer (1951), Part One: The Appeal of Mass Movements

People

“Keep me preoccupied
Keep me busy, busy, busy
So I won't have to think
I don't want to think
Because it only brings me pain
I just keep running away from
My problems
Keep me busy
Give me a million things to do
So I can keep running away from myself.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Pain, Problem, Thinking

“From the time we're born until we die, we're kept busy with artificial stuff that isn't important.”

Tom Ford (1961) American fashion designer

Time

“A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby

Source: The Great Gatsby

“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.

Money, Art, Motivational, Business

“It is a woman's business to get married as soon as possible, and a man's
to keep unmarried as long as he can.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

“All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”

Samuel Butler book The Way of All Flesh

Source: The Way of All Flesh (1903), Ch. 19

Life, Animals

“You can't right the wrongs because you'll never understand the cause and you'll be too busy dodging the effect.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Source: Eye Scream

Understanding

“Busy old fool, unruly Sophie”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

Fools

“Busy your mind with the concepts of harmony, health, peace, and good will, and wonders will happen in your life.”

Joseph Murphy (1898–1981) American writer

Source: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind -

Life, Health, Peace

“Keep a demon busy, I thought. Right. Maybe he fancies a game of Tiddlywinks.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Game

“Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should do, the never get around to doing what they want to do.”

Kathleen Winsor (1919–2003) American author

People, Thinking

“He that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian

Religion, Knowledge

“It's none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

On the loss of a suitcase containing work from his first two years as a writer, as quoted in With Hemingway (1984) by Arnold Samuelson

Way, Thinking, Learning

“Health makes good propaganda. “'Proof' that women's activities outside the home are detrimental to the health and welfare of themselves, their families and the country as a whole” lent impetus, writes Ann Oakley, to the nineteenth-century cult of domesticity. The ovaries were seen as collective property rather than the woman's own business, as the face and body outline are seen today. Who can argue with health?”

Naomi Wolf book The Beauty Myth

Source: The Beauty Myth (1991), Chapter 7 : 'Violence', p. 227

Women, Health, Family, Home

“I’m not unsympathetic. But do you like me? Because this being gay business doesn’t mean you can just throw yourself at any guy and it’ll be fine because he’s not a girl. There are still people you like and people you don’t.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

People, Guy, Girl

“A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Stranger in a Strange Land

Source: Stranger in a Strange Land

Wisdom, People

“Before I begin, may I ask how old you are?"
"You may ask."
"How old are you?"
"It's none of your business”

Christopher Pike book The Last Vampire

Source: The Last Vampire

“If a man's character is to be abused, say what you will, there's nobody like a relation to do the business.”

William Makepeace Thackeray Vanity Fair

Vol. I, ch. 19.
Source: Vanity Fair (1847–1848)

“We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.”

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) American writer

Paul Robeson
Context: That time
we all heard it,
cool and clear,
cutting across the hot grit of the day.
The major Voice.
The adult Voice
forgoing Rolling River,
forgoing tearful tale of bale and barge
and other symptoms of an old despond.
Warning, in music-words
devout and large,
that we are each other's
harvest:
we are each other's
business:
we are each other's
magnitude and bond.