What's your favorite business related quotation?


6

Here are my three -

  1. You do not require an invitation to make profits. ~ Dhirubhai Ambani
  2. Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly. ~ Dhirubhai Ambani
  3. Every street is paved with gold -- so I just rake in it. ~ Kim Woo Choong

Bonus -

Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another. The illusion has become real, and the more real it becomes, the more desperately they want it. Capitalism at its finest. ~ Gordon Gekko

Inspiration

asked Dec 12 '09 at 06:36
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Arpit Tambi
1,050 points

16 Answers


7

My favorite business quotes: I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. – Donald Trump

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. – Henry Ford

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations. – Steve Jobs

Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games. – Babe Ruth

You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough. – Joseph E. Levine

The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. – Peter F. Drucker

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi

answered Dec 12 '09 at 06:49
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Montana Flynn
323 points
  • +1 for the Gandhi quote. Especially true nowadays where personality/blogging/opinion has the power to drive a following who drives your startup. – Jason 14 years ago
  • +1 for "Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games." – Babe Ruth. A lot of people don't seem to understand this one. – Olivier Lalonde 14 years ago
  • +1 for Henry Ford – Arpit Tambi 14 years ago
  • + 1 for Drucker – Bertrood 12 years ago

5

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." --
Peter Drucker

answered Dec 12 '09 at 06:45
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Jeff O
6,169 points
  • well said....... +1 – Arpit Tambi 14 years ago
  • +1 take a step back and look at the big picture – Dane 14 years ago
  • That makes a lot of sense, but is not widely applied. – Montana Flynn 14 years ago

3

"All good work is done in defiance of management."
- Bob Woodward

"Every one of us has learned how to send emails on Sunday night. But how many of us know how to go a movie on Monday afternoon. You’ve unbalanced your life without balancing it with someone else."
- Ricardo Semler

answered Dec 12 '09 at 06:53
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Aaron Q
101 points

3

“People don’t buy a quarter-inch drill bit, they buy a quarter-inch hole. You’ve got to study the hole, not the drill. The drill is just the solution for it.” - Ted Levitt "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius

"Real artists ship." - Steve Jobs (Backstory )

"Do, or do not. There is no try." - Master Yoda "Don't pay any attention to the critics. Don't even ignore them." - Samuel Goldwyn

answered Dec 12 '09 at 11:31
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Chris Hagner
881 points
  • thanks for links – Arpit Tambi 14 years ago

2

Never confuse motion with action -- Benjamin Franklin

answered Jan 5 '10 at 07:21
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Dave Ambrose
51 points

2

"The perfect is the enemy of the good." - Voltaire

answered Dec 13 '09 at 01:13
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Joe
831 points

1

"You can not become successful. You can only be successful." Eakhart Tolle

"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." Warren Buffett

answered Jan 5 '10 at 03:29
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Sparagi
346 points

1

One of the Stanford entrepreneur talks had a theme of something like

"The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity."

answered Dec 12 '09 at 12:06
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Tim J
8,346 points
  • Few words say a lot, it clearly define what to do and what not to do. – Arpit Tambi 14 years ago

1

"If I had listened to my customers I would have given them a faster horse" - Henry Ford.

answered Aug 3 '11 at 12:54
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Dmurtagh
157 points

1

I'm a startup guy, so will share one of my favorite quotes for startups (though it was not written with startups in mind):

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." ~Gandhi

answered Aug 3 '11 at 13:27
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Dharmesh Shah
2,865 points

0

"Its 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration." Thomas Edison

answered Feb 3 '10 at 09:06
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Eric Amzalag
818 points

0

"Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer" - Sun Tzu

"Under promise, over deliver" - me

answered Sep 6 '11 at 09:07
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Woodrow Stool
1 point
  • "Under promise and over deliver" is also said by Guy Kawasaki in The Macintosh Way. Truly excellent. – Seth Rogers 12 years ago

0

“ It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop." - Confucius

answered Jan 5 '10 at 04:26
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Ilker Aksu
113 points

0

"Success is all about timing" -- Indian Rainmaker

answered Feb 3 '10 at 09:11
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Thom Pete
1,296 points

0

These might not be considered business quotes but I think of them that way:

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. - Sir Winston Churchill

Both inspire me to dream big and believe that my company can succeed, can be what we want it to be.

answered Feb 3 '10 at 09:12
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Chris
4,214 points

0

This one has been in my e-mail signature for the last couple of years.

"Anybody can wish for riches, and most people do, but only a few know that a definite plan, plus a burning desire for wealth, are the only dependable means of accumulating wealth." - Napoleon Hill

answered Sep 5 '11 at 23:56
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Edgar Miranda
230 points

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