25 Business Quotes Every Entrepreneur Should Live By

Harold Geneen,
Former President of ITT Corporation

“In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”

“It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises but only performance is reality.”

Henry Ford
Founder of Ford Motor Company

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”

“The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.”

“It is not the employer who pays the wages. He only handles the money. It is the customer that pays the wages.”

Ingvar Kamprad
Founder of IKEA

“Waste of resources is a mortal sin at IKEA.”

Peter Schutz
Former President and CEO of Porsche

“Hire character. Train skill.”

Robert Bosch
German Industrialist, Engineer and Inventor

“I don't pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.”

Elting E. Morison
Historian

“The executive exists to make sensible exceptions to general rules.”

Bill Gates
Co-Founder of Microsoft Corporation

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

Thomas J. Watson
Former President of IBM

“To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.”

Alan Greenspan
Former Chairman of The Federal Reserve

“I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well.”

Bob Parsons
Founder and CEO of GoDaddy.com

“Let's be honest. There's not a business anywhere that is without problems. Business is complicated and imperfect. Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect human beings and exists by providing a product or service to other imperfect human beings.”

Dale Carnegie
Author, Speaker, Trainer

“Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in business.”

Mark Cuban
Owner of Dallas Mavericks

“It doesn't matter how many times you fail. It doesn't matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because... All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.”

Jeff Bezos
Founder and CEO of Amazon.com

“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

Richard Branson
Founder and Chairman of Virgin Group

“Having a personality of caring about people is important. You can’t be a good leader unless you generally like people. That is how you bring out the best in them.”

Warren Buffett
Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

“Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business.”

Michael Dell
Founder and CEO of Dell Computer

“One of the things I benefited from when I started this business was that I didn't know anything. I was just instinct with no preconceived notions. This enabled me to learn and change quickly without having to worry about maintaining any kind of status quo, like some of my bigger competitors.”

Fred DeLuca
Co-Founder of Subway

“I didn’t have big family expenses. I didn’t have high expectations. I was willing to try solutions that other people may not even have thought of. I’m not saying they were all smart solutions, but I tried them.”

Walt Disney
Co-Founder of The Walt Disney Company

“Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.”

Debbie Fields
Founder of Mrs. Fields Bakeries

“The only thing I had was this recipe, and with that recipe was a dream. And those were the only things that I had to build my business: a recipe and a dream. And there was no way, no way, I wasn’t going to see this dream through.”

Steve Jobs
Founder and CEO of Apple Inc.

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.”

Li Ka-Shing
Asia’s Richest Man
Founder and Chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings

“I never forget to maintain stability while advancing, and I never forget to advance while maintaining stability.”

“I was very careful. I had no debt (actually, I was not qualified for a bank loan at the time), but I knew my company's finances like the back of my hand, and I could answer any question that anybody asked.”