Business Quotes

The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known, for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points

~ Sun Tzu

if you fight with all your might,  there is a chance of life; where as death is certain if you cling to your corner

~ Sun Tzu

You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.

~ Sun Tzu

We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.

~ Sun Tzu

Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind.

~ Sun Tzu

There are not more than five primary colors  (blue, yellow,  red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen.

~ Sun Tzu

When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is INSUBORDINATION.

~ Sun Tzu

Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise,  for the result is waste of time and   general stagnation.

~ Sun Tzu

When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is COLLAPSE.

~ Sun Tzu

The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage which all must reach.

~ Sun Tzu

We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country -- its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps.

~ Sun Tzu

Danger has a bracing effect.

~ Sun Tzu

first lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle;  if you will not begin with stratagem but rely on brute strength alone, victory will no longer be assured

~ Sun Tzu

If we wish to wrest an advantage from the enemy, we must not fix our minds on that alone, but allow for the possibility of the enemy also doing some harm to us, and let this enter as a factor into our calculations.

~ Sun Tzu

To begin by bluster, but afterwards to take fright at the enemy's numbers, shows a supreme lack of intelligence.

~ Sun Tzu

Be stern in the council-chamber, [Show no weakness, and insist on your plans being ratified by the sovereign.] so that you may control the situation.

~ Sun Tzu

At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden,  until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.

~ Sun Tzu

Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.

~ Sun Tzu

When an invading force crosses a river in its onward march, do not advance to meet it in mid-stream.  It will be best to let half the army get across, and then deliver your attack.

~ Sun Tzu

Fortune does favor the bold and you'll never know what you're capable of if you don't try.

~ Sheryl Sandberg

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

~ Sun Tzu

Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive.

~ Sun Tzu

Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by opinions when you reach DECISIONS, you will not succeed in any undertaking.

~ Napoleon Hill

If his forces are united, separate them.

~ Sun Tzu

who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits

~ Sun Tzu

do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat

~ Sun Tzu

Conceal your dispositions, and your condition will remain secret, which leads to victory;  show your dispositions, and your condition will become patent, which leads to defeat.

~ Sun Tzu

The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.

~ Sun Tzu

I say, 'Get me some poets as managers.' Poets are our original systems thinkers. They contemplate the world in which we live and feel obligated to interpret, and give expression to it in a way that makes the reader understand how that world runs. Poets, those unheralded systems thinkers, are our true digital thinkers. It is from their midst that I believe we will draw tomorrow's new business leaders.--Sidney Harman, CEO Multimillionaire of a stereo components company

~ Daniel H. Pink

These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

~ Sun Tzu

So long as victory can be attained,  stupid haste is preferable to clever dilatoriness.

~ Sun Tzu

Contract law is essentially a defensive scorched-earth battleground where the constant question is, “if my business partner was possessed by a brain-eating monster from beyond spacetime tomorrow, what is the worst thing they could do to me?

~ Charles Stross

Banks are the temples of America. This is a holy war. Our economy is our religion.

~ Giannina Braschi

We have little choice but to move beyond quality and seek remarkable, connected, and new. Remarkable, as you've already figured out, demands initiative.

~ Seth Godin

A dream business that doesn't make money is a living nightmare.

~ Habeeb Akande

Business is as old as life. There is no living being that does not have a business.

~ Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

The business card does not fully reflect who we are. We are being judged, we feel, in a humiliating way. We feel there is so much in us that has not got an expression in capitalism. You know, capitalism is a machine that recognizes outward financial, external achievement. And most of us carry all kinds of richness which we are unable to translate into that language.

~ Alain De Botton

For a business to strengthen its position on the market, its managers should become skillful at helping their subordinates to set and achieve specific and measurable goals with realistic deadlines and clear expectations. Managers should also mentor employees through challenges, helping them grow and develop new skills.

~ Anna Stevens

Imagine going to work every day to do only and exactly what you love!! All the work gets done because of the abundant diversity of your team. Different skills, interests and talents are woven together into a whole that is much greater than the sum of the parts!

~ Denise Moreland

You don't have to reinvent the wheel... just steal the hubcaps.

~ Michael P Naughton