--- title: "Malcolm Forbes Quotes | QuotesBy.net" description: "Malcolm Forbes's notes appear plain-spoken and sly about work, success, and leadership, appealing to anyone after practical wisdom. 68 quotes on QuotesBy.net." image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png" --- ## Malcolm Forbes quotes 1. > Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. [Permalink to quote \#1](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/1/ "Permalink to quote 1") Attribution disputed; shown as originally published. 2. > Being right half the time beats being half-right all the time. [Permalink to quote \#2](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/2/ "Permalink to quote 2") 3. > By the time we've made it, we've had it. [Permalink to quote \#3](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/3/ "Permalink to quote 3") 4. > Contrary to the cliche, genuinely nice guys most often finish first or very near it. [Permalink to quote \#4](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/4/ "Permalink to quote 4") Attribution disputed; shown as originally published. 5. > Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs. [Permalink to quote \#5](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/5/ "Permalink to quote 5") 6. > Diversity: the art of thinking independently together. [Permalink to quote \#6](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/6/ "Permalink to quote 6") 7. > Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. [Permalink to quote \#7](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/7/ "Permalink to quote 7") 8. > Elected leaders who forget how they got there won't the next time. [Permalink to quote \#8](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/8/ "Permalink to quote 8") 9. > Everybody has to be somebody to somebody to be anybody. [Permalink to quote \#9](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/9/ "Permalink to quote 9") 10. > Executives who get there and stay suggest solutions when they present the problems. [Permalink to quote \#10](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/10/ "Permalink to quote 10") 11. > Failure is success if we learn from it. [Permalink to quote \#11](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/11/ "Permalink to quote 11") 12. > Few businessmen are capable of being in politics, they don't understand the democratic process, they have neither the tolerance or the depth it takes. Democracy isn't a business. [Permalink to quote \#12](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/12/ "Permalink to quote 12") 13. > How to succeed? Try hard enough. [Permalink to quote \#13](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/13/ "Permalink to quote 13") 14. > If you don't know what to do with many of the papers piled on your desk, stick a dozen colleagues' initials on 'em, and pass them along. When in doubt, route. [Permalink to quote \#14](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/14/ "Permalink to quote 14") 15. > If you expect nothing, you're apt to be surprised. You'll get it. [Permalink to quote \#15](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/15/ "Permalink to quote 15") 16. > If you have a job without any aggravations, you don't have a job. [Permalink to quote \#16](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/16/ "Permalink to quote 16") 17. > If you have no critics you'll likely have no success. [Permalink to quote \#17](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/17/ "Permalink to quote 17") Attribution disputed; shown as originally published. 18. > If you never budge, don't expect a push. [Permalink to quote \#18](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/18/ "Permalink to quote 18") 19. > It is all one to me if a man comes from Sing Sing Prison or Harvard. We hire a man, not his history. [Permalink to quote \#19](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/19/ "Permalink to quote 19") 20. > It's more fun to arrive at a conclusion than to justify it. [Permalink to quote \#20](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/20/ "Permalink to quote 20") 21. > It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem. [Permalink to quote \#21](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/21/ "Permalink to quote 21") 22. > It's always worthwhile to make others aware of their worth. [Permalink to quote \#22](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/22/ "Permalink to quote 22") 23. > Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always makes you less than you are. [Permalink to quote \#23](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/23/ "Permalink to quote 23") 24. > Let your children go if you want to keep them. [Permalink to quote \#24](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/24/ "Permalink to quote 24") 25. > Men who never get carried away should be. [Permalink to quote \#25](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/25/ "Permalink to quote 25") 26. > Never hire someone who knows less than you do about what he's hired to do. [Permalink to quote \#26](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/26/ "Permalink to quote 26") 27. > One can pay back the loan of gold, but one lives forever in debt to those who are kind. [Permalink to quote \#27](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/27/ "Permalink to quote 27") 28. > One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a-hundred half-finished tasks. [Permalink to quote \#28](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/28/ "Permalink to quote 28") 29. > Pay your people the least possible and you'll get from them the same. [Permalink to quote \#29](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/29/ "Permalink to quote 29") 30. > People who matter are most aware that everyone else does, too. [Permalink to quote \#30](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/30/ "Permalink to quote 30") 31. > People who never get carried away should be' [Permalink to quote \#31](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/31/ "Permalink to quote 31") 32. > Presence is more than just being there. [Permalink to quote \#32](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/32/ "Permalink to quote 32") 33. > Retirement kills more people than hard work ever did. [Permalink to quote \#33](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/33/ "Permalink to quote 33") 34. > Success follows doing what you want to do. There is no other way to be successful. [Permalink to quote \#34](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/34/ "Permalink to quote 34") 35. > The best vision is insight. [Permalink to quote \#35](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/35/ "Permalink to quote 35") 36. > The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they most enjoy. [Permalink to quote \#36](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/36/ "Permalink to quote 36") 37. > The more sympathy you give, the less you need. [Permalink to quote \#37](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/37/ "Permalink to quote 37") 38. > There is never enough time, unless you're serving it. [Permalink to quote \#38](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/38/ "Permalink to quote 38") 39. > There's no way to move without making waves. [Permalink to quote \#39](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/39/ "Permalink to quote 39") 40. > Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it. [Permalink to quote \#40](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/40/ "Permalink to quote 40") 41. > To measure the man, measure his heart. [Permalink to quote \#41](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/41/ "Permalink to quote 41") 42. > Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. [Permalink to quote \#42](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/42/ "Permalink to quote 42") 43. > Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat. [Permalink to quote \#43](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/43/ "Permalink to quote 43") 44. > What's an expert? I read somewhere, that the more a man knows, the more he knows, he doesn't know. So I suppose one definition of an expert would be someone who doesn't admit out loud that he knows enough about a subject to know he doesn't really know how much. [Permalink to quote \#44](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/44/ "Permalink to quote 44") 45. > When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better. [Permalink to quote \#45](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/45/ "Permalink to quote 45") 46. > When what we are is what we want to be, that's happiness. [Permalink to quote \#46](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/46/ "Permalink to quote 46") 47. > When you cease to dream you cease to live. [Permalink to quote \#47](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/47/ "Permalink to quote 47") 48. > You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. [Permalink to quote \#48](https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes/48/ "Permalink to quote 48") Attribution disputed; shown as originally published. ## Also attributed 1. > I don't think anybody can be a success who doesn't like what they do. \[But it's\] no job if it has no challenge; there's nothing to it if there are no problems. The essential thing is liking what you're doing. 2. > Why, just a couple of economic seasons ago, was idle cash considered an indication of bad management or lazy management? Because it meant that management didn't have this money out at work ... Now look. Presto! A new fashion! Cash is back in! Denigrating liquidity has dropped quicker than hemlines. A management is now saluted if it has some cash, some liquidity, doesn't have to go to the money market at huge interest rates to get the wherewithal to keep going and growing. Along with Ben Franklin, my father and your father would understand and applaud this new economic fashion. 3. > Real writers-that is, capital W Writers-rarely make much money. Their biggest reward is the occasional reader's response… Commentators-in-print voicing big fat opinions-you might call us small w writers-get considerably more feedback than Writers. The letters I personally find most flattering are not the very rare ones that speak well of my editorials, but the occasional reader who wants to know who writes them. I always happily assume the letter-writers is implying that the editorials are so good that I couldn't have written them myself. 4. > Some people as a result of adversity are sadder, wiser, kinder, more human. Most of us are better, though, when things go better. Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is invariably more important than opening it at the right time. Always listen to a man when he describes the faults of others. Often times, most times, he's describing his own, revealing himself. 5. > When you don't understand, it's sometimes easier to look like you do. 6. > Security isn't securities. It's knowing that someone cares whether you are or cease to be. 7. > It is unfortunate we can't buy many business executives for what they are worth and sell them for what they think they are worth. 8. > Compliment others on the virtues they have; and they're not half as pleased as being complimented for the ones they don't have. 9. > . . . the most difficult thing asked by our young is not our earnings but our ears. 10. > Any marriage that survives a big wedding can probably survive. 11. > When those with ability at their job get to thinking they can't be done without, they're already on their way out. 12. > I think the terror most people are concerned with is the IRS. 13. > Isn't it fortunate how selective our recollections usually are. 14. > Things there are no solution to: Inflation, bureaucracy & dandruff. 15. > When young, you're shocked by the number of people who turn out to have feet of clay. Older, you're surprised by the number of people who don't. 16. > At the heart of any good business is a chief executive officer with one. 17. > The day nothing turns you on - you're dead. No matter how many more years you go on breathing. 18. > The dumbest people I know are those who know it all. 19. > When the joy of the job's gone, when it's no fun trying anymore, quit before you're fired. 20. > Hoarding one's hurts hurts only the hoarder. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "CollectionPage", "name": "Malcolm Forbes Quotes", "url": "https://quotesby.net/Malcolm-Forbes", "about": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" }, "hasPart": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Being right half the time beats being half-right all the time.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "By the time we've made it, we've had it.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Contrary to the cliche, genuinely nice guys most often finish first or very near it.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Elected leaders who forget how they got there won't the next time.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Everybody has to be somebody to somebody to be anybody.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Executives who get there and stay suggest solutions when they present the problems.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Failure is success if we learn from it.", "spokenByCharacter": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Malcolm Forbes" } }, { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Few businessmen are capable of being in politics, they don't understand the democratic process, they have neither the tolerance or the depth it takes. 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