American Businessman Quotes

If they had made that longer six-cylinder crankshaft strong enough and had supported it well enough, they would have obtained the smoother action they talks about in their advertisements. But they could not do that, and those early sixes had a very undesirable period vibration at certain speeds. That vibration more than offset the gain that they would have realized, if they had treated the crankshaft properly.

Henry M. Leland

The common impression regards this scale or chain merely as a "type" of organization, characteristic only of the vaster institutions of government, army, church and industry. This impression is erroneous. It is likewise misleading, for it seems to imply that the scalar chain in organization lacks universality. These great organizations differ from others only in that the chain is longer. The truth is that wherever we find an organization even of two people, related as superior and subordinate, we have the scalar principled.

James D. Mooney

The purpose of this book is to show how economic analysis can be used in formulating business policies. It is therefore a departure from the main stream of economic writings on the theory of the firm, much of which is too simple in its assumptions and too complicated in its logical development to be managerially useful. The big gap between the problems of logic that intrigue economic theorists and the problems of policy that plague practical management needs to be bridged in order to give executives access to the practical contributions that economic thinking can make to top-management policies.

Time is the most valuable thing you have - and I'm not just talking about the minutes for which you're paid.

Eternity does not start after you die; it begins when you really live.

The real cure for what ails our health care system today is less government and more freedom.

Consumers desiring a better world have already achieved some successes in this regard, helping to transform several industries from the ground up.

Simon Mainwaring

The construction of extensive railways, however, and particularly the consolidation of small, experimental lines into large systems, dates from the days of the discovery of gold in California

John Moody (financial analyst)

In setting up a business under the name and meaning of the Golden Rule, I was publicly binding myself, in my business relations, to a principle which had been a real and intimate part of my family upbringing. Our idea was to make money and build business through serving the community with fair dealing and honest value.

James Cash Penney

When companies fail, or fail to grow, it's almost always because they don't invest in the people, the systems, and the processes they need.

Premature wealth or position cannot be retained because it has not been earned; we get only what we give, and those who try to get without giving always find that the law of compensation is relentlessly bringing about an exact equilibrium.

Charles F. Haanel

The Marine Corps taught me how to kill, but it didn't teach me how to deal with killing.

If you want to catch a cold, hang out with sick people. If you want to lose, associate with losers. But if you want to become successful, go out of your way to associate with successful people.

Thomas J. Stanley

One changed child eventually changes a family. A changed family will influence change in its church. Enough changed churches will transform a community. Changed communities change regions. Changed regions will in time change an entire nation.

But if you don't take the necessary steps to make them happen, dreams are just mirages that mess with your head!

A great business success was probably never attained by chasing the dollar, but is due to pride in one's work, the pride that makes business an art.

Henry Latham Doherty

You can't be a successful leader or mentor until you have served. You can't serve until you have stepped out of your comfort zone. And you can't step out of your comfort zone unless you have character and keep your word.

Bill Courtney (football coach)

You've gotta love the game. To become really good, you need to live it and sleep it.

Being successful entails being able to not only get along with people, but also to give something back

In every forest, on every farm, in every orchard on earth, it's what's under the ground that creates what's above the ground. That's why placing your attention on the fruits that you have already grown is futile. You cannot change the fruits that are already hanging on the tree. You can, however, change tomorrow's fruits. But to do so, you will have to dig below the ground and strengthen the roots.

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

Show me a person who never made a mistake, and I will show you a person who never did anything.

William Rosenberg

Chief executives, who themselves own few shares of their companies, have no more feeling for the average stockholder than they do for baboons in Africa.

T. Boone Pickens

People can be unreliable and disloyal; possessions can lose their value; jobs that once stimulated you can become boring. But principles remain steady through it all.

If you aren't afraid to fail, then you probably don't care enough about success.