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Quotes about business

69 quotes from 46 people

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American industry is not free, as once it was free; American enterprise is not free; the man with only a little capital is finding it harder to get into the field, more and more impossible to compete with the big fellow.
Woodrow Wilson1856–1924The New Freedom (1913), Section I: “The Old Order Changeth”, p. 15
- Economics
Capitalism works not through coercion or conquest, but through the consent of the consumer.
Dinesh D'Souzaborn 1961America: Imagine the World Without Her (2014)
- Economics
A man’s success in business today turns upon his power of getting people to believe he has something that they want.
Gerald Stanley Lee1862–1944Crowds (1913), Book II, Chapter IX.
- Success
Linux is not in the public domain. Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches. That’s the way that the license works.
Steve Ballmerborn 1956“Microsoft CEO takes launch break with the Sun-Times” (1 June 2001) Chicago Sun Times
- Computers
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
Adam Smith1723–1790The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book I, Chapter X, Part II, p. 152.In context
- Economics
After 25 years of buying and supervising a great variety of businesses, Charlie and I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems. What we have learned is to avoid them.
Warren Buffettborn 1930Letters to Shareholders (1957—2012), 1989 Chairman’s Letter
We don’t get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we’ll wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.
Warren Buffettborn 19301998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, quoted in Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (2012) by Frank Partnoy, p. 177
In fact, when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.
Warren Buffettborn 1930Letters to Shareholders (1957—2012), 1988 Chairman’s Letter
With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves.
Milton Friedman1912–2006Lecture “The Suicidal Impulse of the Business Community” (1983); cited in Filters Against Folly (1985) by Garrett Hardin
It is more dangerous to be a great prophet or poet than to promote twenty companies for swindling simple folk out of their savings.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Misalliance (1910), Preface
- Poetry
We’re gambling on our vision, and we would rather do that than make “me too” products. Let some other companies do that. For us, it’s always the next dream.
Steve Jobs1955–2011Interview about the release of the Macintosh (24 January 1984)—(online video)
- Risk
I think that if I am smart in business, it’s just that I’m smart about who I am. I know what I can, can’t, will and won’t do, and if I have to be strict about that, I will.
Dolly Parton1946–2026Interview by Jancee Dunn, “Dolly Parton: At 57, the Country Legend Still Brims With Vitality”, Rolling Stone (30 October 2003)
- Character
It is better to buy than compete.
Mark Zuckerbergborn 1984Email (June 2008), as quoted in the FTC antitrust complaint against Facebook (December 2020)
When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI.
Tim Cookborn 1960Apple shareholder meeting (28 February 2014), as reported by The Mac Observer
I don’t think business should only deal in commercial things. Business, to me, is nothing more than a collection of people. If people have values, then companies should.
Tim Cookborn 1960CNBC: “Apple’s Tim Cook shares a rule that leaders should live by” (26 June 2018)
- Morality