50 business quotes for entrepreneurs

Whether you are already running a business or plan to start one at some point, here are 50 business quotes full of motivation and wisdom. They are also valuable advice from business people who succeeded, and entrepreneurs should take them to heart.

*I always recommend saving the ones that make you feel something, so you can read them at those moments when we need a little inspiration or motivation. So, without further ado, here is what the most successful business people have left us.

Business quotes from entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs

1. “Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career.” – Ryan Freitas of About.me

2. “Be undeniably good. No marketing effort is a substitute for that.” – Anthony Volodkin of Hype Machine

3. “Money is like petrol on a road trip. Nobody wants to run out of petrol along the way, but nobody enjoys a trip that consists of a tour of petrol stations.” – Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media

4. “If you can’t feed your team with two pizzas in the early days, it’s too big.” – Jeff Bezos of Amazon

5. “Don’t worry about people who want to steal or copy your work. Worry about the day they stop.” – Jeffrey Zeldman of L.A Editorial

6. “The value of an idea lies in using it.” – Thomas Edison

7. “Work is going to take up a large part of your life. The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is good work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs of Apple

8. “The most dangerous poison for an entrepreneur is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to think about what can be done to do it better tomorrow.” – Ingvar Kamprad of IKEA

9. “When you’re negotiating, look for the fool in the deal. If you can’t find one, it’s because the fool is going to be you.” – Mark Cuban

See also: Sayings, proverbs and motivational advice for entrepreneurs

10. “Don’t worry about failing. You only have to be right once to succeed.” – Drew Houston of Dropbox

11. “Failing often is by far the best known way to reach success faster.” – Tom Kelley

12. “Sometimes it isn’t a matter of having new ideas, but of letting go of the old ones.” – Edwin Land of Polaroid

13. “Grow big quietly so you don’t alert potential competitors.” – Chris Dixon

14. “Don’t try to be original; just try to be good, because these days that already is originality.” – Paul Rand

15. “Never play games you don’t understand, even if you see lots of people making money from them.” – Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway

16. “Business ideas are easy to have. The hard part is applying them in the real world.” – Guy Kawasaki

17. “Fund your business yourself for as long as you possibly can.” – Garrett Camp of StumbleUpon

18. “The only thing worse than starting something and failing is… not starting anything.” – Any entrepreneur

19. “The biggest fortunes have been built in falling markets (crises) and harvested in rising markets.” – Jason Calacanis of Launch Ticker

20. “No more romanticising and prettifying how great it is to be an entrepreneur. It’s a constant struggle for your company’s survival and a constant competition every single day of the week, but it’s what I love doing.” – Spencer Fry

21. “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you probably launched it too late.” – Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn

22. “The fastest way to improve ourselves is to spend time with people who already are the way we want to be.” – Reid Hoffman

23. “A vision of an idea without the ability to execute it is just a hallucination.” – Steve Case of AOL

See also: 5 tips for turning your passion into a business

24. “You need three very simple things to succeed in business: know your product better than anyone, know your customer and have a burning desire to succeed.” – Dave Thomas of Wendy’s

25. “Whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, either way you’re right.” – Henry Ford

And 25 more business quotes

26. “Entrepreneurs are like turtles. They only move forward if they’re willing to stick their necks out.” – Bruce Levin

27. “Don’t waste time focusing on why you can’t do something, which is what most people do. Focus on the fact that maybe you could, and be one of the exceptions.” – Steve Case of AOL

28. “There is only one way to start building your dream: stop talking and start doing.” – Walt Disney

29. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by walking and falling over.” – Richard Branson

30. “Surround yourself with positive, healthy people. Never let a jerk get you down.” – Michael Bloomberg

See also: 10 Bruce Lee quotes applied to business

31. “Your most dissatisfied customers should be your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates

32. “Only those who dare to fail greatly end up achieving great success.” – Robert F. Kennedy

33. “Success is a matter of persevering when others have already given up.” – William Feather

34. “Two kinds of people fail in life: those who know nothing and those who think they know everything.” – Warren Buffett

35. “If I fell, it was because I was walking, and the truth is that walking is worth it, even if you fall.”

36. “Failure is the opportunity to begin again, but more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

37. “Life can only be understood by looking back, but it can only be lived looking forward.”

38. “Take your first step now. It doesn’t matter if you can’t see the whole path. Just take the first step and the rest of the path will appear as you walk.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

See also: 23 leadership quotes applied to business

40. “Those who want to reach a goal look for ways. Those who don’t, look for excuses.”

41. “You won’t win every battle, so choose carefully the ones you want to fight.”

42. “Destiny is not a matter of chance but of choices. It is not something to wait for, but something to pursue.” – W. Jennings Bryan

43. “If you trip and fall, get up with energy. If you trip again, get up again. If you trip a third time, don’t walk: sit down and work out why you keep tripping.”

44. “If it isn’t in your hands to change a particular circumstance, at least choose the attitude with which you will face it.”

45. “Those who think something can’t be done are constantly interrupted by people who are already doing it.” – Joel A. Barker

46. “If you stop thinking about your problems and focus on your work, you’ll see the problems die for lack of food.”

47. “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” – Churchill

48. “Only those who know how to stay awake when the time comes achieve their dreams.”

49. “Remembering that you are going to die one day is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose by trying.” – Steve Jobs

50. “If you want to succeed, stop going to the bathroom.” – Michael Bloomberg

I suppose this last Bloomberg quote needs some explaining, so here goes. As we explained in the linked article, Bloomberg believes in working hard: being the first to arrive and the last to leave. “While you are sleeping, someone else is awake trying to outdo you. While you rest, someone else is working to take what you have. And while you are in the bathroom, someone else is working for your job. So if you want to succeed…”

See also: The 10 commandments for certain failure in business

Featured image: Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications of Sweden /Sandra Baqirjazid], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.