21 Inspiring Business Quotes

The people who’ve made it big will tell you there’s no secret formula to success. Entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, and athletes will all pretty much say the same thing. 

They’ll say that it all boils down to hard work, sleepless nights, and a sprinkle of magic fairy dust. This dust isn’t actually dust, mind you, it usually comes in the shape of a person, an opportunity, a place, or a time.

While we can’t look into the future and predict our moment of glory, what we can do, is follow our gut instincts and try our best to carve out a niche for ourselves.  

To take a bit of pressure off each step that you take, we’ve put together some words of wisdom — invaluable advice from people who’ve gone for the gold, from actors to advertising legends and ecommerce superstars.

So, need a bit of a kick to get you out of an ecommerce rut? Or perhaps a boost to lift your high even higher? This list is for you.

Motivation quotes

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.”
― Ted Turner

“I won and I get to scream and jump a little. But I got to go back to work tomorrow.”
―  Benicio del Toro, after winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2000

“Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.”
— Serena Williams

“Every second you spend thinking about what somebody else has is taking away from time that you could create something for yourself.”
― Gary Vee

“Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own.”
― Michelle Obama

Business quotes

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
―  Henry Ford

“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
― Sheryl Sandberg

“If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying, planning, and getting ready for it. What you should be doing is getting started.”
— Drew Houston, Dropbox

“Sometimes you just have to use your reptile brain. If something sounds stupid, it is stupid.”
— Reed Hastings, Netflix

“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”
— David Ogilvy

“Word of mouth is the best medium of all.”
—  William Bernbach

“Look after the customers and the business will take care of itself.”
― Ray Kroc

“Anything that removes a middleman and gives me direct access to what I really want is beautiful.”
— Jon Crawford, Storenvy

“The thing is, it’s very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better.”
― Jony Ive, Apple

Productivity quotes

“The discovery of what matters is important. If you figure it out, you know what to optimize, and where.”
— Peep Laja, ConversionXL

“You don’t want everyone to see a piece of content. You want the people who are really excited about the content to see it.”
— Jonah Peretti, Buzzfeed

“It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring.”
— Tina Fey

“Today is cruel. Tomorrow is crueler. And the day after tomorrow is beautiful.”
— Jack Ma, Alibaba

“The regrets of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow can kill you.”
— Liza Minnelli

Bonus

If you’re looking for an extra push, here’s a little something from Mr. Draper:

“If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.”
— Don Draper

And when all else fails, remember that you can always pull a Bart:

“Lisa, you’ve got the brains and talent to go as far as you want, and when you do I’ll be right there to borrow money.”
— Bart Simpson

(A very comforting finale, don’t you think?)

If there’s a quote that didn’t make the cut, we’d love for you to share it with our readers, so make sure to leave it in the comment section below!