Kim Woo-Choong Quotes

25 Sourced Quotes

My biggest mistake was that I was too ambitious. I tried to achieve in five years what it would take 15 years for others to achieve.

Kim Woo-Choong
You should be neither an opportunist nor a mere observer. Nor should you be a defeatist. What you should have is a broad vision of what you can do for the nation and the people, and furthermore what you can contribute to the history of mankind.

Kim Woo-Choong
It is the creative inspirations of this small minority which make it possible for the non-creative majority to participate in the development of history. To do so is not only the right of the creative minority, it is their duty and responsibility; society and history cannot progress without their contributions.

Kim Woo-Choong
History is filled with the rise and fall of nations and civilizations, and history teaches us that no nation, no matter how strong or imperialistic, lasts forever as a power.

Kim Woo-Choong
A person's responsibility to society increases proportionately with his or her assets. Everything we have has come to us from and through society. This is true of possessions, of fame, and of power. And society has not given it to us for our own selfish use. Society has bestowed it on us so that we can return it to society in an appropriate manner. To put it another way, the more you have, the more frugal you should be, and the more responsibility you have to lead social trends in a healthy direction by working harder than others and by being more frugal than others.

Kim Woo-Choong
Use all of your time wisely. As I said before, there are many valuables in this life, but nothing is more valuable than time.

Kim Woo-Choong
To be successful, you must have as many options available as possible. The more limited your choices, the more limited are your chances for making a decision that will lead to success.

Kim Woo-Choong
Decision-making is important not only in business — it is important throughout life. Life is a series of decisions, and one wrong decision can ruin a life. I sometimes wonder whether we are living just to be able to have the chance to make the one right decision that will lead to success.

Kim Woo-Choong
And the best way to learn a lot from indirect experiences is through books. Read books like you make friends - on a broad scale. Just as you have to make good friends, you have to choose good books.

Kim Woo-Choong
A lot of people have asked me about the effect of all this hard work on family life. Daewoo people, including myself, believe that working diligently does not harm the family; rather, it brings fulfillment. This attitude makes us different from people in the advanced countries. Indeed, I feel that the destruction of family life occurs due to immoral conduct, when there is too much free time. A hard-working man can receive love and respect from his wife and children.

Kim Woo-Choong
If a worker makes sacrifices, he can become a section chief, and if a section chief makes sacrifices, he will become a manager. And if a manager makes sacrifices, he can become president.

Kim Woo-Choong
I have never taken a vacation in 30 years. I never take any holidays either.

Kim Woo-Choong
During World War II and the Korean War, Americans were the world's leaders. But recently Americans seem to lack initiative and leadership. Maybe Americans have failed to adjust to the new world, or maybe they are getting lazy. I think former generations of Americans worked for pride, for their children and for a sense of accomplishment. Today, it seems a lot of Americans are working only for leisure—they work so they can take time off. That is an alien concept in Asia. Here at Daewoo, we work for pride, not leisure.
In 1985

Kim Woo-Choong
Maintaining the status quo is the same as regressing; while you are holding your own, others are passing you by. Be harsh on yourself. Do not ever think that you have made it; do not ever be staisfied by what you have done. Drive yourself for the rest of your life. If you do not move, you become paralyzed. Develop your potential to the fullest, for you, too, can wake the sleeping genius at will.

Kim Woo-Choong
My Daewoo Group could not sail through the unexpected rough waves. I am entirely responsible for imposing a burden on the national economy, and I will humbly accept all the measures the legal authorities will take.

Kim Woo-Choong
Over 40 years, I did my best with my life. Not knowing what was wrong, I worked hard no matter what [...] I will submit to whatever comes as the result.
When asked by the judge to give a final statement on the fraud charges against him

Kim Woo-Choong
If losing your life is personal death, then losing your reputation is social death. It is too bad if you lose money, but money is one of those things that is okay to lose since you can always make more, and money was made to be used anyway.

Kim Woo-Choong
A life without dreams is like a ship without a rudder. Just as a ship without a rudder becomes nothing but a drifting craft, a person without a dream loses his direction and tosses about until he gets caught in the seaweed.

Kim Woo-Choong
Dreams often make the person. They control his personality, his work, even his destiny. Dreams are like the rudder of a ship setting sail. The rudder may be small and unseen, but it controls the ship's course.

Kim Woo-Choong
But nowadays I often hear that young people no longer have dreams about the future. Or that the dreams they do have are fixed on present reality. If that is true, then nothing could be sadder for the individuals, but even more so for the nation.

Kim Woo-Choong
History belongs to dreamers. Dreams are the power for changing the world. I will bet that all the people who are shaping world history today had big dreams when they were young.

Kim Woo-Choong
Youth is the time of life when, even if you do not own a thing, you have nothing to envy if you have dreams.

Kim Woo-Choong
People with dreams know no poverty, for a person is as rich as his or her dreams.

Kim Woo-Choong
Because many of the words that actually guide us through life are commonplace, we often take these words, which can mold personal destinies and even generations, for granted. Only when these words become truth to us through direct experience do we come to realize their importance.

Kim Woo-Choong
My observation has been that many of today's youth are immersed in convention, and their talents and capabilities are not always being properly cultivated. It seems that, with the proliferation of materialism, social education and moral training at home are suffering. In addition, there is little attempt to nurture the creative individual.

Kim Woo-Choong