117 Inspirational Business Quotes to Fuel Your Entrepreneurial Journey

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

- Walt Disney

"Whether you think you can, or think you can't – you're right."

- Henry Ford

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

- Steve Jobs

"The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world."

- Marc Benioff

"Ideas are commodity. Execution of them is not."

- Michael Dell

"If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late."

- Reid Hoffman

"If you don't build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs."

- Dhirubhai Ambani

"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."

- John D. Rockefeller

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

- Albert Einstein

"So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard."

- Caterina Fake

"There's lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there's only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: it's to change the world."

- Phil Libin

"If you're not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business."

- Ray Kroc

"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill

"You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over."

- Richard Branson

"Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve."

- Mary Kay Ash

"Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical."

- Howard Schultz

"No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team."

- Reid Hoffman

"What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone. Know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed."

- Dave Thomas

"In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination."

- Steve Case

"All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA."

- Reid Hoffman

"I knew that if I failed I wouldn't regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying."

- Jeff Bezos

"You jump off a cliff and you assemble an airplane on the way down."

- Reid Hoffman

"Sustaining a successful business is a hell of a lot of work, and staying hungry is half the battle."

- Wendy Tan White

"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."

- Bill Gates

"Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don't tell."

- Lisa Stone

"Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career."

- Ryan Freitas

"Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that."

- Anthony Volodkin

"Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you."

- Tony Hsieh

"The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow."

- Ingvar Kamprad

"It's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen."

- Scott Belsky

"Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard."

- Guy Kawasaki

"Nothing works better than just improving your product."

- Joel Spolsky

"Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success."

- Biz Stone

"The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something."

- Seth Godin

"First, think. Second, believe. Third, dream. And finally, dare."

- Walt Disney

"Data beats emotions."

- Sean Rad

"You don't need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea."

- Larry Page

"Before dreaming about the future or marking plans, you need to articulate what you already have going for you – as entrepreneurs do."

- Reid Hoffman

"I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars — I look for 1-foot bars that I can step over."

- Warren Buffett

"Embrace what you don't know, especially in the beginning, because what you don't know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else."

- Sara Blakely

"Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me."

- Arianna Huffington

"Diligence is the mother of good luck."

- Benjamin Franklin

"You shouldn't focus on why you can't do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why perhaps you can, and be one of the exceptions."

- Steve Case

"Always deliver more than expected."

- Larry Page

"I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one."

- Bill Gates

"Don't take too much advice. Most people who have a lot of advice to give — with a few exceptions — generalize whatever they did. Don't over-analyze everything. I myself have been guilty of over-thinking problems. Just build things and find out if they work."

- Ben Silbermann

"You just have to pay attention to what people need and what has not been done."

- Russell Simmons

"If you're passionate about something and you work hard, then I think you will be successful."

- Pierre Omidyar

"When you find an idea that you just can't stop thinking about, that's probably a good one to pursue."

- Josh James

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

- Thomas Edison

"Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect."

- Jack Dorsey

"Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don't find one, it's you."

- Mark Cuban

"Don't worry about failure; you only have to be right once."

- Drew Houston

"If there's something you want to build, but the tech isn't there yet, just find the closest possible way to make it happen."

- Dennis Crowley

"Best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch."

- Michael Arrington

"The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%."

- Rob Kalin

"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

- Will Rogers Jr.

"Don't be afraid to assert yourself, have confidence in your abilities and don't let the bastards get you down."

- Michael Bloomberg

"Every time you state what you want or believe, you're the first to hear it. It's a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don't put a ceiling on yourself"

- Oprah Winfrey

"I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know."

- Harlan Sanders

"Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless."

- James Cash Penney

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

- Steve Jobs

"If you just work on stuff that you like and you're passionate about, you don't have to have a master plan with how things will play out."

- Mark Zuckerberg

"Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don't want to run out of gas on your trip, but you're not doing a tour of gas stations."

- Tim O’Reilly

"Don't try to be original, just try to be good."

- Paul Rand

"If you're interested in the living heart of what you do, focus on building things rather than talking about them."

- Ryan Freitas

"Entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create."

- David Karp

"Don't play games that you don't understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them."

- Tony Hsieh

"Every day that we spent not improving our products was a wasted day."

- Joel Spolsky

"When I'm old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say 'wow, that was an adventure,' not 'wow, I sure felt safe."

- Tom Preston-Werner

"Turn a perceived risk into an asset."

- Aaron Patzer

"Anything that is measured and watched, improves."

- Bob Parsons

"Fortunes are built during the down market and collected in the up market."

- Jason Calacanis

"No more romanticizing about how cool it is to be an entrepreneur. It's a struggle to save your company's life – and your own skin – every day of the week."

- Spencer Fry

"You can't make anything viral, but you can make something good."

- Peter Shankman

"It's more effective to do something valuable than to hope a logo or name will say it for you."

- Jason Cohen

"Don't worry about funding if you don't need it. Today it's cheaper to start a business than ever."

- Noah Everett

"You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve."

- Marc Benioff

"Play by the rules, but be ferocious."

- Phil Knight

"Every problem is a gift – without problems we would not grow."

- Tony Robbins

"Have the end in mind and every day make sure you're working toward it."

- Ryan Allis

"If you must doubt something, doubt your limits."

- Price Pritchett

"Tough times never last, but tough people do."

- Robert Schuller

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

- Lao Tzu

"Small opportunities are often the beginning of great achievements."

- Demosthenes

"Always give your best effort even when the odds are against you."

- Arnold Palmer

"It's hard to do a really good job on anything you don't think about in the shower."

- Paul Graham

"There's nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team."

- Jason Fried

"Don't worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop."

- Jeffrey Zeldman

"If you can't feed a team with two pizzas, it's too large."

- Jeff Bezos

"Get a mentor in the applicable field if you're at all unsure of what you're looking for."

- Kyle Bragger

"If you define yourself by how you differ from the competition, you're probably in trouble."

- Omar Hamoui

"Even if you don't have the perfect idea to begin with, you can likely adapt."

- Victoria Ransom

"Get big quietly, so you don't tip off potential competitors."

- Chris Dixon

"I doubt I'll ever go back to corporate work. Once you see the light, there is no turning back."

- Magnus Jepson

"Stay self-funded as long as possible."

- Garrett Camp

"I try not to make any decisions that I'm not excited about."

- Jake Nickell

"See things in the present, even if they are in the future."

- Larry Ellison

"A 'startup' is a company that is confused about – 1. What its product is. 2. Who its customers are. 3. How to make money."

- Dave McClure

"The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be."

- Reid Hoffman

"As long as you're going to be thinking anyway, think big."

- Donald Trump

"Behold the turtle, he makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."

- Bruce Levin

"A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader."

- Fred Wilson

"We are really competing against ourselves, we have no control over how other people perform."

- Pete Cashmore

"Don't give up, the beginning is always the hardest."

- Kemmy Nola

"How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top."

- Yvon Chouinard

"If you're going to put your product in beta – put your business model in beta with it."

- Joe Kraus

"It's not that we need new ideas, but we need to stop having old ideas."

- Edwin Land

"Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea."

- Mark Pincus

"I don't think an economic slump will hurt good ideas."

- Rob Kalin

"Trust your instincts."

- Estee Lauder

"Don't be cocky. Don't be flashy. There's always someone better than you."

- Tony Hsieh

"Every time we launch a feature, people yell at us."

- Angelo Sotira

"We are currently not planning on conquering the world."

- Sergey Brin

"I like to pride myself on thinking pretty long term, but not that long term."

- Mark Zuckerberg

"High expectations are the key to everything."

"Fail often so you can succeed sooner."