Business Quotes

You will try to improve me, Captain, but I tell you it cannot be done. I am resigned to moral apathy and corporeal decrepitude, and have done with projections. No, Captain,” with a pining sigh, “I think I will simply sit in the shade and wait for either a customer or death, the latter I might prefer, at such a point.

~ Michelle Franklin

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up. We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

To me, the conclusion that the public has the ultimate responsibility for the behavior of even the biggest businesses is empowering and hopeful, rather than disappointing. My conclusion is not a moralistic one about who is right or wrong, admirable or selfish, a good guy or a bad guy. My conclusion is instead a prediction, based on what I have seen happening in the past. Businesses have changed when the public came to expect and require different behavior, to reward businesses for behavior that the public wanted, and to make things difficult for businesses practicing behaviors that the public didn't want. I predict that in the future, just as in the past, changes in public attitudes will be essential for changes in businesses' environmental practices.

~ Jared Diamond

In business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind--but he must get there first.

~ John Steinbeck

The crash did not cause the Depression: that was part of a far broader malaise. What it did was expose the weaknesses that underpinned the confidence and optimism of the 1920s - poor distribution of income, a weak banking structure and insufficient regulations, the economy's dependence on new consumer goods, the over-extension of industry and the Government's blind belief that promoting business interests would make America uniformly prosperous.

~ Lucy Moore

In business, as in politics, the public is ever so tolerant of those who slime.

~ Christopher Moore

To befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business & corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Having the understanding of God, God’s ambassadors are able to bring a country out of crisis, change politics, business and economy

~ Sunday Adelaja

Our fight is a fundamental fight against both of the old corrupt party machines, for both are under the dominion of the plunder league of the professional politicians who are controlled and sustained by the great beneficiaries of privilege and reaction.

~ Theodore Roosevelt

Both political parties have moved to the right during the neoliberal period. Today’s New Democrats are pretty much what used to be called “moderate Republicans.” The “political revolution” that Bernie Sanders called for, rightly, would not have greatly surprised Dwight Eisenhower.The fate of the minimum wage illustrates what has been happening. Through the periods of high and egalitarian growth in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the minimum wage—which sets a floor for other wages—tracked productivity. That ended with the onset of neoliberal doctrine. Since then, the minimum wage has stagnated (in real value). Had it continued as before, it would probably be close to $20 per hour. Today, it is considered a political revolution to raise it to $15.

~ Noam Chomsky

All told, over the period 1932-1980, nearly half a century, the top federal income tax rate in the United States averaged 81 percent.

~ Thomas Piketty

To impart a moral responsibility to exercise fairness in leadership builds greater leaders of strong character.

~ Wayne Chirisa

One of the strange things about human beings is that they value only that which has a price.

~ Nepoleon Hill

...As marriage was woman's business, unmarried women, though doubtless unfortunate, must simply be considered as business failures: harsh, doubtless, but in tune with the sink-or-swim capitalist times.

~ Ruth Brandon

In the twentieth century the women who wanted to be on their own were some of the best, the honest ones, those who instinctively rejected the trash. But here came a tragical dilemma. If they accepted Business and served it, they served the very thing from which they fled, and at best became imitation men. If they rejected Business and lived on allowances or incomes, they were in the anomalous position of hunting with the industrial hounds and running with the agricultural hare. An instinctive sense of this made many of them turn artist. And so Europe was cluttered up with incompetent women artists -- not that a woman is incapable of being an artist, but because the assumed role provided an escape. Either situation was impossible, and the solution is not yet found.

~ Richard Aldington

It doesn't matter to me that my leaving will cost you money. It doesn't matter that my space will take time to fill. What matters is that I'm happy and if you're not willing to invest in me, then I'm willing to cost you money.

~ Osayi Emokpae Lasisi

Not much in the world ends up being the same as it started out, unless of course it had a very short life cycle.

~ Lorii Myers

As Waterman has noted: In today’s business environment, more than in any preceding era, the only constant is change. Successful organizations effectively manage change, continuously adapting their bureaucracies, strategies, systems, products, and cultures to survive the shocks and prosper from the forces that decimate the competition.

~ Fred David

Those who spend all they earn always end in penury.

~ Bamigboye Olurotimi

If you don't like something don't protest from a far. Work within it to change it. Otherwise, you'll just be one voice of many rather than a trusted voice of influence.

~ Isabella Poretsis

Opportunity exist for those who can observe trends, for this world is a trending place.

~ Auliq Ice

In modern time slowness is new sickness.

~ Amit Kalantri

There was a product which seemed attractive, expensive, portable, beautiful and simple. Everybody talked about its beauty but they bought it for it's simplicity.

~ Amit Kalantri

You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.

~ Steve Jobs

If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything.

~ Tom Rath

Although individuals need not be well-rounded, teams should be.

~ Tom Rath

Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.

~ Peter F. Drucker

Good leaders have vision and inspire others to help them turn vision into reality. Great leaders have vision, share vision, and inspire others to create their own.

~ Roy Bennett

Accountants are in the past, managers are in the present, and leaders are in the future.

~ Paul Orfalea

A good businessman must have nose for business the same way a journalist has nose for news. In places where people see a lot of obstacles, I see a lot of opportunities. A good businessman sees where others don’t see.

~ Orji Uzor Kalu

The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work ot make it better.

~ Barbra Pletcher

Your mission statement, vision statement, core values, and service standards provide a clear focus for all while keeping your team humble and hungry. It creates that family environment in which your employees enjoy coming to work and dealing with the challenges they face each day.

~ Amber Hurdle

If your culture is how you do business internally, your brand is what people believe about you externally.

~ Amber Hurdle

You can’t be “it” for everyone. In fact, if you try to please everyone, you will please no one, especially yourself.

~ Amber Hurdle

You’ve got to get your team to not only understand your company brand, but also to understand their personal brand.

~ Amber Hurdle

Even if you delegate that responsibility, ultimately you are the one responsible for howyour brand is portrayed.

~ Amber Hurdle

Never take lightly that becoming an employer puts another person’s ability to provide for their life in your hands.

~ Amber Hurdle

Train your new employee properly. Sounds so obvious, and yet it often doesn’t happen.

~ Amber Hurdle

Treat your employees like you would want to be treated if you were an employee.

~ Amber Hurdle

Customer service has everything to do with consistency, systems, training, and the habits you and your team create.

~ Amber Hurdle