20th-century Businessman Quotes

Walt Disney

Steve Jobs

Bill Gates

Warren Buffett

Richard Branson

Mitt Romney

Mark Zuckerberg

When I started Virgin from a basement in west London, there was no great plan or strategy. I didn't set out to build a business empire... For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that's going to make a real difference to other people's lives

Richard Branson

I just make what I like - warm and human stories, ones about historic characters and events, and about animals. If there is a secret, I guess it's that I never make the pictures too childish, but always try to get in a little satire of adult foibles.

In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope.

Recruiting is hard. It's just finding the needles in the haystack. You can't know enough in a one-hour interview. So, in the end, it's ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they're challenged? I ask everybody that: 'Why are you here?' The answers themselves are not what you're looking for. It's the meta-data.

Success is more a function of consistent common sense than it is of genius.

There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.

Well, one thing that everybody may not be aware of is how fantastic the CDC has been historically. They're the best in the world. They train themselves in terms of how to communicate, including getting bad news out and getting people to take measures that protect themselves.

The world is changing.... I don't, as a consumer, want advertising that's not relevant. If we're going to take a side let's take the side of the consumer.

Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table.

George P. Shultz

There is seldom just one cockroach in the kitchen. You know, you turn on the light and, all of sudden, they all start scurrying around.

Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success — along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like... I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.

Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

I believe that the mindset that allows you to spend your working life thanking and congratulating people rather than being unpleasant to them is the mainstay of good leadership.

To be a success in advertising you must want to fill other people with a passion for possession.

Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Industry shares a need common to every social enterprise from church to guild, municipality to empire, war to university.

We even sell a pair of earrings for under £1, which is cheaper than a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencers. But I have to say the earrings probably won't last as long.

Innovation, I believe, is the only way that America will regain the initiative in a global dynamic economy.

I had no idea this was going to be an accurate prediction, but amazingly enough instead of 10 [years] doubling, we got nine over the 10 years, but still followed pretty well along the curve.

In rich economies, stability matters a lot; small further increases in allocative efficiency matter less. Thus, policy should be heavily focused on ensuring macroeconomic and financial stability and very wary of financial innovation if it carries with it any risk of increased instability.

Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell

If you're not called crazy when you launch something new, it means you're not thinking BIG enough.

Linda Rottenberg

The only way to consistently stay ahead of the game is to adopt a long-term view and, if appropriate, with a strong contrarian spin.

We're working to overcome the overly macho nature of the current online console game world, where a handful of the high testosterone crowd fight for supremacy, while the mass of casual game players stay away.

Reggie Fils-Aimé

Design isn't just about making things beautiful; it's also about making things work beautifully.

Roger Martin (professor)

You can communicate to a new AI. Did you ever see the movie The Matrix? Same interface. Same concept. Only better. Starting from next year, you can chat to the world's first AI!

I encounter one example after another of how relative truth is.

Raoul Wallenberg

Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds and when they grow up they will change the world.