"Business Quotations That Inspire"

Talk of nothing but business, and dispatch that business quickly.

-Aldus Manutius (1449 - 1515), Placard on the door of the Aldine Press

The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.

-Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

Drive thy business or it will drive thee.

-Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

The chief business of the American people is business.

-Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933), Speech in Washington, Jan. 17, 1925

There's no business like show business, but there are several businesses like accounting.

-David Letterman (1947 - )

In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.

-David M. Ogilvy

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you're not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.

-David Rockefeller (1915 - )

Good design can't fix broken business models.

-Jeffrey Veen, Designing the Friendly Skies, 06-21-06

I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.

-John Cleese (1939 - )

You never really hear the truth from your subordinates until after 10 in the evening.

-Jurgen Schrempp, Former CEO of DaimlerChrysler

A dinner lubricates business.

-Lord William Stowell

To succeed as a team is to hold all of the members accountable for their expertise.

-Mitchell Caplan, CEO, E*Trade Group Inc.

My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people's.

-Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892

Letting your customers set your standards is a dangerous game, because the race to the bottom is pretty easy to win. Setting your own standards--and living up to them--is a better way to profit. Not to mention a better way to make your day worth all the effort you put into it.

-Seth Godin, Seth Godin's Blog, 07-28-06

I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity.

-Sydney Biddle Barrows, in Marian Christy, ''Mayflower Madam' Tells All,' Boston Globe, 1986

Designing your product for monetization first, and people second will probably leave you with neither.

-Tara Hunt, HorsePigCow, 07-12-06

No one travelling on a business trip would be missed if he failed to arrive.

-Thorstein Veblen (1857 - 1929)

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

-Warren Buffett (1930 - )

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