Ideas to Lead You to Professional Success

We’ve gathered some famous quotes and reflections on professional success, business, and the corporate world in general—from professionals and great thinkers.


Reflections on Business and Professional Success

  • “Rule number one: never lose money. Rule number two: never forget rule number one.” — Warren Buffett, Investor
  • “It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” — Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft
  • “As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do.” — Andrew Carnegie, Businessman
  • “Know your business and industry better than anyone else. Love what you do or don’t do it.” — Mark Cuban, Entrepreneur
  • “The ignorant assert, the wise doubt and reflect.” — Aristotle, Philosopher

Great Ideas on Leadership

  • “If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” — Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart
  • “If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” — Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • “A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” — Lao Tzu, Philosopher
  • “The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority.” — Ken Blanchard, Trainer
  • “Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” — Robert Louis Stevenson, Writer

Quotes on Productivity as a Driver of Professional Success

  • “Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight, walk away, and move on to something more productive.” — Donald Trump, Businessman
  • “Stop selling and start helping.” — Zig Ziglar, Speaker
  • “The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” — Amelia Earhart, Aviator
  • “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney, Film Producer
  • “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” — Greg Norman, Golfer

Historic Quotes on Entrepreneurship

  • “No action is too small when it comes to changing the world.” — Cyril Ramaphosa, Politician
  • “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” — Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook
  • “In many failures lie many opportunities.” — Clive Palmer, Businessman
  • “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.” — Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple
  • “A lot of people have ideas, but only a few decide to do something about them today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today.” — Nolan Bushnell, Founder of Atari

Keys to Motivation

  • “Money doesn’t make people happy. People make people happy.” — Steve Wynn, Composer
  • “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” — Henry Ford, Businessman
  • “If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.” — Azim Premji, Businessman
  • “Only those who are asleep make no mistakes.” — Ingvar Kamprad, Founder of IKEA
  • “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill, Politician

Thoughts on Business Management

  • “You have to pretend you’re 100% sure. You have to take action, and you can’t hedge your bets. Otherwise, you’re condemning your efforts to failure.” — Andy Grove, Scientist
  • “Work honestly and build, build, build.” — Jack Simplot, Businessman
  • “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” — Albert Einstein, Scientist
  • “The miracle is this: the more we share, the more we have.” — Leonard Nimoy, Actor
  • “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” — Max DePree, Author

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