I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me. - John Cleese
There is no investment you can make which will pay you so well as the effort to scatter sunshine and good cheer through your establishment. - Orison Swett Marden
Always ask people for favors. People will ask you to return them. That is how one painstakingly constructs a free exchange, which is the basis of all public and private business -one polite request at a time. - Benjamin Franklin
Most of us never recognize opportunity until it goes to work in our competitor's business - P. Andarr
Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, then progress stops. - Thomas Watson
You can't build a strong corporation with a lot of committees and a board that has to be consulted every turn. You have to be able to make decisions on your own. - Keith Rupert Murdoch
Someone is going to make your product obsolete. Make sure it's you. - Dr. Edwin H. Land
Business is like riding a bicycle. Either you keep moving or you fall down. - John D. Wright
In this business you either sink or swim or you don't. -David Smith
Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, 'Make me feel important.' Never forget this message when working with people. - Mary Kay
In this business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you're gone. - Bill Gates (1955- ), Microsoft Founder, 1994
There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there. - Lee Iacocca
The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows. - Aristotle Onassis
When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary. - William Wrigley Jr.
I'm not a driven businessman, but a driven artist. I never think about money. Beautiful things make money. - Geoffrey Beene
Business has only two functions -- marketing and innovation. - Peter F. Drucker
Business is like a wheelbarrow - it stands still unless someone pushes it. - Unknown
Above all, we wish to avoid having a dissatisfied customer. We consider our customers a part of our organization, and we want them to feel free to make any criticism they see fit in regard to our merchandise or service. Sell practical, tested merchandise at reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings -- and they will always come back. - L.L. Bean
Goodwill is the one and only asset that competition cannot undersell or destroy. - Marshall Field
I work in a strange business, and trust is a word that's not even in the vocabulary. - Kim Basinger
You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart. - Thomas J. Watson
Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight. - Henry Luce
If you did not look after today's business then you might as well forget about tomorrow. - Isaac Mophatlane
I'll keep it short and sweet. Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business. - Charles Montgomery Burns (from The Simpsons)
Never say no when a client asks for something, even if it is the moon. You can always try, and anyhow there is plenty of time afterwards to explain that it was not possible. - Cesar Ritz
Anybody can cut prices, but it takes brains to produce a better article. - P. D. Armour
When the product is right, you don't have to be a great marketer. - Lee Iacocca
In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope. - Charles Revlon
Wise are those who learn that the bottom line doesn't always have to be their top priority. - William Arthur Ward
In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later. - Harold Geneen
Dear, never forget one little point: It's my business. You just work here. - Elizabeth Arden (1884-1966) US cosmetics executive to her husband
If you break 100, watch your golf. If you break 80, watch your business. - Joey Adams (1911-) US comedian, author
A criminal is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation. - Robert W. Kent
Business is a combination of war and sport. - Andre Maurois
Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business. - Henry David Thoreau A molehill man is a pseudo-busy executive who comes to work at 9 AM and finds a molehill on his desk. He has until 5 PM to make this molehill into a mountain. An accomplished molehill man will often have his mountain finished before lunch. - Fred Allen (1894-1956) US comedian, vaudeville juggler
'Top' management is supposed to be a tree full of owls hooting when management heads into the wrong part of the forest. I'm still unpersuaded they even know where the forest is. - Robert Townsend US business executive
If a sufficient number of management layers are superimposed on top of each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance. - Norman Augustine (1935-) US author, business executive
Dealing with network executives is like being nibbled to death by ducks. - Eric Sevareid
Most business plans fail. Obviously, success is not a realistic goal. But the people who manage the most spectacular failures get promoted because of their experience. - Dogbert (from Dilbert by Scott Adams)
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