459 Business Quotes

I've decided something: Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks.

A lot of musicians don't learn the business. You just have to be well-rounded in both areas. You have to understand publishing. You have to understand how you make money, what's in demand, what helps you make the most out of your talent.

The Bollywood distribution system is so corrupt that they have trouble making money off movies. So they sell shoes that an actress stepped in. If they turned up the amps some, maybe they could sell the actresses.

I'll bet Shakespeare compromised himself a lot; anybody who's in the entertainment industry does to some extent.

After a while the press of business in the province put an end to our philosophizing, and I returned with increased determination to my plans to fly to the Moon.

American business long ago gave up on demanding that prospective employees be honest and hardworking. It has even stopped hoping for employees who are educated enough that they can tell the difference between the men's room and the women's room without having little pictures on the doors.

Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor unless it is kept under control.

Punctuality is one of the cardinal business virtues: always insist on it in your subordinates.

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.

Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.

You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the navel of a firefly and still have room enough for three caraway seeds and a producer's heart.

I used to be opposed to the idea of social entrepreneurship. I said, you know, let business be business, and philanthropy be philanthropy. Keep the two separate, don't mix it up, and this is what I did, and I did that rather successfully, but I now recognize that actually you do need to mix it up and I think there is room for social entrepreneurship.

I'm very excited about this wonderful opportunity to take part in the evolution of a company that is integral to the Hispanic community and a powerful force in all areas of the media.

Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace. Big corporations fix prices among themselves and thus drive out of business the small entrepreneur. Also, in their conglomerate form, the huge corporations have begun to challenge the very legitimacy of the state.

In a nation that has developed to a high art advertising, the creator who refuses to advertise himself is immediately suspected of having no product worth selling.

Never work for a company that says people are its most important asset. If you wanted to get a mortgage and you said that your only asset was people you would end up living in a tent.

But it must not be thought that I say this out of personal experience: for in the many years that I have been before the public my secret methods have been steadily shielded by the strict integrity of my assistants, most of whom have been with me for years.

When I see an Alfa Romeo go by, I tip my hat.

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.

Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.

Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.

I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.

It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.

Speculation is only a word covering the making of money out of the manipulation of prices, instead of supplying goods and services.

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.

Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service.

Let me remind you that credit is the lifeblood of business, the lifeblood of prices and jobs.

I am firmly opposed to the government entering into any business the major purpose of which is competition with our citizens... for the Federal Government deliberately to go out to build up and expand... a power and manufacturing business is to break down the initiative and enterprise of the American people; it is the destruction of equality of opportunity amongst our people, it is the negation of the ideals upon which our civilization has been based.

As freak legislation, the antitrust laws stand alone. Nobody knows what it is they forbid.

Originally I was content to just simply accept the money, that was offered when people had adapted my comic books into films. Eventually I decided to refuse to accept any of the money for the films, and to ask if my name could be taken off of them, so that I no longer had to endure the embarrasment of seeing my work travested in this manner. The first film that they made of my work was 'From Hell' Which was an adaptation of my 'Jack the Ripper' narrative... In which they replaced my gruff Dorset police constable with Johhny Depp's Absinthe-swigging dandy. The next film to be made from one of my books was the regrettable 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'... Where the only resemblence it had to my book was a similar title. The most recent film that they have made of mine is apparently this new 'V for Vendetta' movie which was probably the final straw between me and Hollywood. They were written to be impossible to reproduce in terms of cinema, and so why not leave them simply as a comic in the way that they were intended to be. And if you are going to make them into films, please try to make them into better ones, than the ones I have been cursed with thus far.

Both of them have seen many young Western men arrive here on business missions and completely lose control of their sphincters and become impediments to any kind of organized activity. Daily hired Wall because, like Daily, he is a stable family man who has his act together:and they seem to be making excellent progress toward their goal, which is to run two really expensive wires across the Malay Peninsula. They tend to be absolutely straight shooters:. Their openness would probably be career suicide in the atmosphere of Byzantine court-eunuch intrigue that is public life in the United States today. On the other hand, if I had an unlimited amount of money and woke up tomorrow morning with a burning desire to see a 2,000-hole golf course erected on the surface of Mars, I would probably call men like Daily and Wall, do a handshake deal with them, send them a blank check, and not worry about it.

In the United States, the political system is a very marginal affair. There are two parties, so-called, but they're really factions of the same party, the Business Party. Both represent some range of business interests. In fact, they can change their positions 180 degrees, and nobody even notices. In the 1984 election, for example, there was actually an issue, which often there isn't. The issue was Keynesian growth versus fiscal conservatism. The Republicans were the party of Keynesian growth: big spending, deficits, and so on. The Democrats were the party of fiscal conservatism: watch the money supply, worry about the deficits, et cetera. Now, I didn't see a single comment pointing out that the two parties had completely reversed their traditional positions. Traditionally, the Democrats are the party of Keynesian growth, and the Republicans the party of fiscal conservatism. So doesn't it strike you that something must have happened? Well, actually, it makes sense. Both parties are essentially the same party. The only question is how coalitions of investors have shifted around on tactical issues now and then. As they do, the parties shift to opposite positions, within a narrow spectrum.

Remember, every business firm, like even a mom and pop grocery store, is a market imperfection. A firm is defined in economic theory as a market imperfection introduced to deal with transaction costs. And the sort of theory is that the imperfections, the firms, are kinda like little islands in a free market sea. But the problem with that is that the sea doesn't remotely resemble a free market, and the islands are bigger than the sea; so that raises some questions about the picture. But these market imperfections, like a firm, or a transnational corporation, or a strategic alliance among them, this is a form of administering interchanges. And there's a real question about whether we want to accept that. Why, for example, should the international socioeconomic system, or for that matter our own society, be in the hands of unaccountable private tyrannies? That's a decision, it's not a law of nature.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people

It's a ... a ... Tru ... Value!

In movies, the balance between art and business has always been precarious, with business outweighing art, but the business was, at least, in the hands of businessmen who loved movies. As popular entertainment, movies need something of what the vulgarian moguls had - zest, a belief in their own instincts, a sentimental dedication to producing pictures that would make their country proud of their contribution, a respect for quality, and the biggest thing: a willingness to take chances. The cool managerial sharks don't have that; neither do the academics. But the vulgarians also did more than their share of damage, and they're gone forever anyway. They were part of a different America. They were, more often than not, men who paid only lip service to high ideals, while gouging everyone for profits. The big change in the country is reflected in the fact that people in the movie business no longer feel it necessary to talk about principles at all.

[human types needed for top management tasks] ...the 'thought man' ...the 'action man' ...the 'people man' ...the 'front man' ...Yet those four temperaments are almost never found in one person. ...The one-man top management job is a major reason why business fail to grow. -- Management: Tasks Responsibilities Practices (1974)

The World According to Peter Drucker Jack Beatty, The Free Press, 1998

We all chose the next single. Me, Jay-Z, Evan and Carl. There was actually a fight because there was so many second singles

The United States is not a zero-sum game. Meaning when somebody gets hired, it does not mean somebody gets fired. Meaning when somebody earns an additional five dollars, somebody has lost an additional five dollars. It doesn't mean that it's either oil or else. The whole concept of the United States, the capitalist system, is the free market - and the free market is fueled by freedom! Freedom leads to ingenuity, invention, entrepreneurism, and what is the pursuit? The pursuit is profit. The profit derives from success. Now, there's some charlatans in our free market. The people in carbon offset businesses are sharks. They are pure frauds! They are convincing people to pay them X-amount of dollars for whatever, to plant trees, to soak up the additional carbon footprint of what is 'allowed.' Allowed by who? Who says that there is a maximum carbon footprint? There is no such law, there is no such standard, because we have freedom! If you want to have a 30,000-square-foot house and a big-ass swimming pool and a bunch of outdoor lights and you can afford it and you pay for it, and there are people that provide it. End of story. You are not guilty! You are not guilty. No, you are not. Just because somebody else doesn't have a 30,000-square-foot house, doesn't have a big-ass swimming pool and outdoor lights, doesn't mean they're innocent and you are guilty. As this relates to alternative fuels, oil is the most plentiful energy source we have. It's the most efficient. But while oil is being used, and while it is being exploited, the United States taxpayer, ladies and gentlemen, already spends billions of dollars on alternative energy research - and you can bet that the private sector is investing in it, too, and do you know why? Because we are a growing country and everybody needs energy! We're not going to stay the United States if we start reducing energy usage. Conservation is not the answer. So because a free market's percolating and gurgling and burbling out there, somewhere in this mix will come the magical alternative fuel source. It may not be for a hundred years, it may not be for 50, but it will happen, and it will happen all by itself ... if we stay free.

Now that I'm strugglin in this business, by any means/Label me greedy gettin green, but seldom seen

Can't trust a bitch in the bidness so I got with Death Row/Now these money hungry bitches gettin suspicious/Started plottin and plannin on schemes, to come and trick us/But Thug niggaz be on point and game tight

Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.

Spank Bank's open 24 hours.

Captains of Industry.

'What about the money?'

No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.

The business of business is business.

When you are skinning your customers you should leave some skin on to grow again so that you can skin them again.

Without some dissimulation no business can be carried on at all.

Dispatch is the soul of business.

'Tolerance' is not only the acceptance that people, as diverse they may be, have the right to be as they are and to live in peace together. Tolerance-in the context of business-is also the recognition that to get what you want, you have to give something in return.

People of different ethnic and religious backgrounds were able to do business together despite language and other barriers. They recognized that to get what they wanted; they had to give something in return. There was a form of partnership based on mutual benefit. That partnership was underpinned by 'tolerance'.

Business is globalizing so fast that it has led to the often quoted 'clash of civilizations'. People simply have not had time to get to know and understand people of other cultures sufficiently to live and work in harmony.

Micro-finance is a wonderful opportunity for businesses. By investing a small portion of their income in micro-finance projects, they not only take an active part in business ethics, but they also gain future business partners and consumers.

I can't say that I love it with a fierce passion - indeed as a profession it's rather disappointing since it is not a profession at all, but rather a business service station and repair shop.

Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

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

Mainstream films have occupied Hollywood but you can get bored very easily. It can be very repetitive and I think now we want something fresh and something inspiring and different, daring. The mainstream film is very expensive to make and it scares people. It's made for the worldwide audience, you have to please so many people, and the business men start running the movies rather than artists. This is back to the oldest way of Hollywood filmmaking, creating a fantasy, but it has been lost. It seems to take a foreign language film to recoup that ultimate movie viewing experience.

American business has just forgotten the importance of selling.

It is well-known what a middleman is: he is a man who bamboozles one party and plunders the other.

What usually comes first is the contract.

Microsoft has had clear competitors in the past. It's a good thing we have museums to document that.

One thing we have got to change in our strategy - allowing Office documents to be rendered very well by other peoples browsers is one of the most destructive things we could do to the company. We have to stop putting any effort into this and make sure that Office documents very well depends on PROPRIETARY IE capabilities.

There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft.[3]

Bill Gates is a very rich man today ... and do you want to know why? The answer is one word: versions.

It's a business I don't know anything about, but I admire Bill Gates enormously. I know him individually, and I think he's incredible in business.

There never was a chip, it is said, that Bill Gates couldn't slow down with a new batch of features.

Probably the most dangerous and powerful industrialist of our age.

[Gates] apparently has made more money than anyone else his age, ever, in any business.

He is divisive. He is manipulative. He is a user. He has taken much from me and the industry.

You either make sense or you make money.

Question: I'm asking If Nintendo is discussing another Zelda game for the N64. Answer: No. Nintendo should not make another Zelda game for N64. Not unless they get someone else to write the screen text! But what you really want to know is, WILL Nintendo make another Zelda game for N64. Sure. Why not? It would sell a lot of copies, and Nintendo's purpose, like most businesses, is to make gobs of money. You can't argue with that kind of logic, and I dare you to try!

There's often a lot of stupid ideas like 'you all dress as fruits and pretend you're selling underpants' or 'we'll put you on a bed of nails and drive a truck over the top and photograph you' for the cover.

Thare is no chance of hurrying bussiness here like in the legeslature of a State thare is such a desposition here to Show Eloquence that this will be a long Session and do no good...

[On the most beautiful words in the English language] The ones I like...are 'cheque' and 'enclosed.'

Jazz is music-Swing is business.

Whereas if the film did any little bit of business in America, if the film did some decent bit of business, then Hollywood would take it, and they'd remake it and up the budget by 50 million and it would be called The Room With a View of Hell! : Staircase of Satan! : Pond of Death.

'My name is Mrs. Smith, I've made apples out of bread and dripping, a bit of green paint, and corrugated iron.' 'No, these are horrible apples, Mrs. Smith. Go away, Mrs. Smith! Go away until your daughter has a baby.' 'Shag, daughter, shag! It's a marketing idea, shag for babies! (mimes running back) My daughter's had a baby, I'm Granny Smith now!' 'Come in, Granny Smith! You're a wonderful idea, you! Come in with your shiny apples.'

The major five religions being Christianity, Judaism, Islam, RCA, Sony, Buddhism and Hinduism. Because apart from the two silly ones, they've all got Jesus in them. I'm not telling you about the two silly ones. ('RCA, they're in the Middle East, aren't they?') Cost if you can't work out what they are, you're probably the person in the plane who watches when they do the belt bit.

Would you please publish the enclosed manuscript or return it without delay, as I have other irons in the fire.

At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote.

Die Leugner des Zufalls. - 'Kein Sieger glaubt an den Zufall.'

It is possible to tell things by a handshake. I like the 'looking in the eye' syndrome. It conveys interest. I like the firm, though not bone crushing shake. The bone crusher is trying too hard to 'macho it.: The clammy or diffident handshake - fairly or unfairly - get me off to a bad start with a person.

There is reason to think the most celebrated philosophers would have been bunglers at business; but the reason is because they despised it.

The three-martini lunch is the epitome of American efficiency. Where else can you get an earful, a bellyful and a snootful at the same time?

Richard Nixon: was just offered $2 million by Schick to do a television commercial - for Gillette.

We'll put free sheets on all the beds, there'll be no cover charge.

I wish to be cremated. One tenth of my ashes shall be given to my agent, as written in our contract.