100 Inspirational Business Quotes For Growth and Success

Business quotes some think of value

In this blog post, we will explore a collection of powerful business quotes that encapsulate the essence of business, sparking inspiration and providing guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals alike. In the ever-evolving business world, it is crucial to adapt, innovate, and look forward rather than dwelling on past practices. By embracing change and investing our energy in new ventures, we can pave the way for success.

If you feel demotivated, anxious, stuck or just worried, these business quotes can help you move forward in your business journey and even inspire some ideas in you.

So without further ado, here are the best business quotes by entrepreneurs and leaders that offer us insight, business sense and wisdom to start and grow our own businesses!

Famous Business Quotes

Jodi Levine business quote
  • “Find a great mentor, someone who has already been through the many challenges of being an entrepreneur…” – Jodi Levine
  • “If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” – Elon Musk
  • “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” – Andy Warhol
  • “You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.” – Warren Buffett
  • “There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.” – Jason Fried
  • “Great customer service is a critical competitive advantage for a business.” – Steve Benson
  • “The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.” – Aristotle Onassis

Motivational Business Quotes

Charles F. Kettering business quote
  • “Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.” – Charles F. Kettering
  • “Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph: a beginning, a struggle and a victory.” – Mahatma Gandhi
  • “Never ever give up! Constant effort is the key to success.” – Xavier Davis
  • “Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.” – Wayne Huizenga
  • “If we did all the things we were capable of, we would astound ourselves.” – Thomas Edison
  • “One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.” – Michael Korda
  • “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
  • “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

Inspirational Business Quotes

 

Aristotle business quote
  • “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle
  • “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  • “If you don’t understand the details of your business you are going to fail.” – Jeff Bezos
  • “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” – John F. Kennedy
  • “Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.” –  Jim Rohn
  • “Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.” – Walt Whitman
  • “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill
  • “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great achievements.” – Demosthenes

Business Quotes About Taking Risks

Peter F. Drucker business quote
  • “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter F. Drucker
  • “Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is.” – Seth Godin
  • “You can’t be successful in business without taking risks. It’s really that simple.” – Adena Friedman
  • “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” –  Jim Rohn
  • “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot
  • “People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.” – Peter Drucker
  • “It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket.” – Elon Musk
  • “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” – Sheryl Sandberg

Business Quotes about Success

Steve jobs business quote
  • “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” – Steve Jobs
  • “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
  • “Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn
  • “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” – Bill Cosby
  • “Motivation is the catalyzing ingredient for every successful innovation.” – Clayton Christensen
  • “Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember – the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of you.” – Unknown
  • “Don’t worry about being successful but work toward being significant and the success will naturally follow.” – Oprah Winfrey
  • “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein
  • “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
  • “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton
  • “The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.” – John D. Rockefeller Jr.
  • “The secret of success in any field is redefining what success means to you.” – RuPaul
  • “Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.” – Paul Tournier

Business Quotes About Work & Vision

Lucius Annaeus Seneca business quote
  • “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca
  • “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. ” – Richard Branson
  • “I never dreamed about success — I worked for it.” – Estee Lauder
  • “You never achieve real success unless you like what you are doing.” – Dale Carnegie
  • “Plan for what is difficult while it is easy. Do what is great while it is small.” – Sun Tzu
  • “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” – Peter Drucker
  • “Paying attention to simple little things that most men neglect makes a few men rich.” – Henry Ford
  • “The heart and soul of a company is creativity and innovation.” – Robert Iger, CEO of Disney
  • “When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue.” – Josh James, CEO and co-founder of Omniture
  • “Where do you put the fear when you choose to innovate? The fear is there, but you have to find a place to put it.” – Seth Godin
  • “You need to spend all of your time and energy on creating something that actually brings value to the people you’re asking for money!” – Gary Vaynerchuk

Business Quotes About Challenges

Victor Kiam business quote
  • “Entrepreneurs understand that there is little difference between obstacles and opportunity.” – Victor Kiam
  • “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked. ” –  Warren Buffett
  • “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison
  • “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” – Dale Carnegie
  • “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.” – Robert Kiyosaki
  • “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
  • “Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” – Wilma Rudolph
  • “Fearlessness is not the absence of fear, it’s the mastery of fear. It’s about getting up one more time when we fall down.” – Arianna Huffington

Business Quotes About Working Hard

Stephen King business quote
  • “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” – Stephen King
  • “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
  • “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” – Napoleon Hill
  • “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
  • “Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demands our best.” – Theodore Isaac Rubin
  • “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” – Helen Keller
  • “Show up, show up, show up, and after a while, the muse shows up, too.” – Isabel Allende

Business Quotes About Overcoming Failure

Winston Churchill business quote
  • “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
  • “Every problem is a gift — without problems we would not grow.” – Anthony Robbins
  • “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
  • “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill
  • “You build on failure. Use it as a stepping stone and close the door on the past. Don’t try to forget the mistakes, but don’t dwell on it.” – Johnny Cash
  • “Don’t be afraid to assert yourself, have confidence in your abilities and don’t let the bastards get you down.” – Michael Bloomberg
  • “Never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart.” – Drake

Business Quotes About Leadership

Arnold H. Glasow business quote
  • “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” – Arnold H. Glasow
  • “You don’t build a business, you build people, then people build the business.” – Zig Ziglar
  • “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.” – Walter Lippmann
  • “Bringing great people onto your team is about demonstrating that size really doesn’t matter — people do.” – Jess Campbell

Business Quotes About Customers

Leo Burnett business quote
  • “What helps people, helps business.” – Leo Burnett
  • “Customer service is an opportunity to exceed your customer’s expectations.” – John Jantsch
  • “Know your communities well! Ask your customers questions and get feedback, get to know them and their needs, chat with other small businesses, work together, and above all: support each other!” – Andrew Young
  • “My advice is to focus on the importance of forging a long-term relationship, whether with colleagues, partners, or customers. It is often easy to get caught up in short-term decisions.” – Sheila Lirio Marcelo
  • “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
  • “We are really competing against ourselves, we have no control over how other people perform.” – Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable
  • “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton

Short Business Quotes

Walt Disney business quote
  • “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
  • “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
  • “Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.” – Sigmund Freud
  • “A big business starts small.” – Richard Branson
  • “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
  • “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” –  Steve Jobs
  • “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain
  • “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote
  • “Business is the salt of life.” – Voltaire
  • “There is no finish line. There are only mile markers.” – Michael Ventura
  • “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” – Frank Zappa
  • “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
  • “Don’t count the days, Make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
  • “In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.” – Nikos Kazantzakis
  • “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale
  • “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
  • “By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
  • “I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.” – Jonathan Winters
  • “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller
  • “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
  • “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin

Business Quotes About Mindset

Harold S. Geneen business quote
  • “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.” – Harold S. Geneen
  • “The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world.” – Marc Benioff
  • “The most successful entrepreneurs I know are optimistic. It’s part of the job description.” – Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr
  • “Success comes from the inside out. In order to change what is on the outside, you must first change what is on the inside.” – Idowu Koyenikan
  • “If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life.” – Brian Chesky, Co-founder of Airbnb
  • “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.” – Tony Hsieh

These Business quotes offer invaluable insights and motivation for navigating the complexities of the business world, be it taking risks, overcoming challenges or having an opportunistic mindset. From embracing change and following our passions to empowering others and creating our own future, the wisdom found within these business quotes can inspire and guide us on the path to success and growth.

In the ever-evolving business world, it is crucial to adapt, innovate, and look forward rather than dwelling on past practices and fearing failures. By embracing change and investing our energy in new ventures, we can pave the way for success.

Come back and refer to these business quotes if you ever feel stuck in your journey!

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