Sometimes we all need a little nudge to keep fighting the good fight, and that’s especially true if you’re running a small business. Fortunately, we can stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, been through the trials, and discovered how to navigate through life as an entrepreneur. The following is a list of thought-provoking quotes from some of our greatest predecessors.
1. “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
—Steve Jobs
2. “It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.”
—Henry Ford
3. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
—Bill Gates
4. “What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.”
—Donald Trump
5. “A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.”
—Charles Schwab
6. “I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”
—Oprah Winfrey
7. “The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.”
—Andrew Carnegie
8. “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.”
—John D. Rockefeller
9. “The only thing worse than a bad investment is a bad investment made with borrowed money.”
—David Chilton
10. “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”
—Coco Chanel
11. “You don’t have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.”
—Michael Dell
12. “My experience has shown me that the people who are exceptionally good in business aren’t so because of what they know, but because of their insatiable need to know more.”
—Milton Hershey
13. “Do the impossible, because almost everyone has told me my ideas are merely fantasies.”
—Howard Hughes
14. “Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems.”
—Sergey Brin
15. “Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.”
—Mark Zuckerberg
16. “My goal is to simplify complexity. I just want to build stuff that really simplifies our base human interaction.”
—Jack Dorsey
17. “Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.”
—J.P. Morgan
Stephanie
Stephanie is the Marketing Director at Talkroute and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur as a leading authority on business and telecommunications.
Stephanie is also the chief editor and contributing author for the Talkroute blog helping more than 100k entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their businesses.