Businessman Quotes

If you look at the Forbes 400, they are paying a lower rate, accounting payroll taxes, than their secretary or - whomever around their office.

I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here.

You have no ability, if you're a financial institution and you're threatened with criminal prosecution, you have no ability to negotiate.

The major fortunes in America have been made in land.

My father was the best person i've ever known.

I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

As you heat the planet up, it's just like boiling a pot.

I know that Congress will do the right thing.

The value of an idea lies in the using of it.

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.

My job is essentially just corralling more and more and more facts and information, and occasionally seeing whether that leads to some action.

When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.

Never give up searching for the job that you're passionate about.

We can afford to lose money - even a lot of money. But we can't afford to lose reputation - even a shred of reputation.

Youth doesn't take advice.

Like I say, I don't think it'll be done perfectly. Maybe we'll end up with a little bit better [economy] system.

If you're in a card game and you can't figure out who the patsy is, you're it.

I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I don't believe in the whole thing of just using other people's money. I don't think that's right. I'm not going to ask other people to invest in something if I'm not prepared to do so myself.

We need to figure out how to have the things we love, and not destroy the world.

I wasn't really a work conscious type of person.

I'm interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous, new technology where you see it, and you're like, 'Wow, how did that even happen? How is that possible?'

The tough thing is figuring out what questions to ask, but […] once you do that, the rest is really easy.

It's not debt per say that overwhelms an individual corporation or country. Rather it is a continuous increase in debt in relation to income that causes trouble.

The three things that are most essential to achievement are common sense, hard work and stick-to-it-iv-ness... Unfortunately, many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. I have far more respect for the person with a single idea who gets there than for the person with a thousand ideas who does nothing.

The man who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won't succeed, you must have a larger ambition.

If I were the treasury secretary or head of the Fed, you know, I would try to scare the hell the out of the private sector and say, you better save this because you're going down with the ship.

The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.

Either they're trying to con you or they're trying to con themselves.

Writing checks to the IRS that include strings of zeros does not bother me ... Overall, we feel extraordinarily lucky to have been dealt a hand in life that enables us to write large checks to the government rather than one requiring the government to regularly write checks to us-say, because we are disabled or unemployed.

If anyone thinks they'd rather be in a different part of history, they're probably not a very good student of history. Life sucked in the old days. People knew very little, and you were likely to die at a young age of some horrible disease. You'd probably have no teeth by now. It would be particularly awful if you were a woman.

My Father... He was there when I didn't understand, he was there when I was wrong, he was there when I cried, he was there when I lied. For some reason my dad was always there, when I needed him the most. His love was never ending. And now that he's gone there is an emptiness in my world, but not in my heart.

I think the most important factor in getting out of the recession actually is just the regenerative capacity of - of American capitalism.

I mean, you may be very mad at some guy that walked away with a huge golden parachute, but that really isn't the important thing.

You should be innovating so fast that you're invalidating your prior patents.

Show me a thoroughly satisfied man - and I will show you a failure.

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

Knowing what to leave out is just as important as knowing what to focus on.

Get rich by taking something common and making it uncommon.

It's easier for me to get ready for a game on the road because you're expected to lose when you play away from home. That's a challenge to right there and that perks my competitive juices.

My challenge when I came back was to face the young talent, dissect their games, and show them maybe that they needed to learn more about the game than just the money aspect.

The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism has gone, never to return.

Great ideas originate in the muscles.

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

I've been to Disneyland, like, 10 times. I'm getting really tired of Disneyland.

Because I readily absorb ideas from every source - frequently starting where the last person left off - I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it.

Always associate yourself with people who are better than you.

Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.

Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices.

If I'm not in love, if I'm not with a long-term companion, I cannot be happy.

The basketball court for me, during a game, is the most peaceful place I can imagine. On the basketball court, I worry about nothing. When I'm out there, no one can bother me.

It is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done. Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer (two people who don't know something are no better than one), will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive.

We don't get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we'll wait, we'll wait indefinitely.

To be successful, you should concentrate on the world of companies, not arcane accounting mathematics.

You want to have a future where you’re expecting things to be better, not one where you’re expecting things to be worse.

I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute.

I’ve never believed in risking what my family and friends have and need in order to pursue what they don’t have and don’t need.

And we need things in life that are exciting and inspiring. It can't just be about solving some awful problem. There have to be reasons to get up in the morning.

Winners don't just learn the fundamentals, they master them. You have to monitor your fundamentals constantly because the only thing that changes will be your attention to them.