111 Motivational Business Quotes of All Time

motivational business quotes

I’m a quote junkie. I’m addicted to collecting quotes. I’ve collected thousands of quotes over the  years. I especially love to collect motivational business quotes.

Do you know why? The reason is simple. Quotes motivate me. They are short yet powerful. They help you take your first step.

And the best part?

You can use such motivational business quotes to get more retweets, likes on Facebook, Instagram etc. So if you are looking for the best of the best motivational business quotes, I’ve compiled over 100 quotes on the page that inspire you to take action.

“I always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth, then I ask myself the same question.” – Harun Yahya

Here is a list of the very best motivational business quotes which I’ve carefully chosen out of thousands. I hope they inspire you as much as they inspire me. If you know of any other inspirational business quotes please add them in the comments.

Quick note: Here’s an expert advice on how to monetize a new website with zero audience.

List of Motivational Business Quotes

1. “The start is what stops most people.” – Don Shula

2. “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” – Swami Vivekananda

3. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell

4. “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” – Henry Ford

5. “It takes 20 years to become an overnight success.” – Eddie Cantor

6. “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” – Farrah Gray

7. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy

8. “You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself to be.” – Lou Holtz

9. “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra

10. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

“Obstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. The only one who can stop you, is YOU.” – Jeffery Gitomer

11. “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

12. “Life has two rules: #1. Never quit #2. always remember rule # 1.” – Unknown

13. “You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough people get what they want in life.” – Zig Ziglar

14. “In the end, what we regret most are the chances we never took.” – Frasier Krane

15. “A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn’t particularly feel like it.” – Alistair Cooke

16. “Work so hard that one day your signature will be called an autograph.” – Unknown

17. “If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

18. “Hire character. Train skill.” – Peter Schutz

19. “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

20. “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc

“Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don’t find one, it’s you.” – Mark Cuban

21. “The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell

22. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t” – A student in Warren G.

23. “It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it.” – John Crowe

24. “Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’” – Brian Tracy

25. “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb

26. “It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success.” – Charlotte Whitton

27. “There is no such thing as failure, only results!” – Anthony Robbins

28. “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee

29. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” – Jimmy Johnson

30. “The essential question is not, “How busy are you?” but “What are you busy at?” – Oprah Winfrey

“Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep.” – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

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31. “Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

32. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” – Muhammad Ali

33. “The person who doesn’t read is no better off than the person who can’t read.” – Unknown

34. “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” – Lily Tomlin

35. “We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.” – Stephen M.R. Covey

36. “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin

37. “One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching”. – Gerard Way

38. “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” – The Joker

39. “Two things define you. Your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything.” – Unknown

40. “Succeeding is one thing. Maintaining that success is another. It is during your success that you are most susceptible to failure.” – Unknown

“To be good or bad doesn’t count: life out in this world doesn’t depend on that. It depends on a relation of forces based on violence. And survival is violence. You’ll wear leather shoes because someone has killed a cow and skinned it to make leather. ” – Unknown

41. “Do not call procrastination laziness. Call it fear.” – Julia Cameron

42. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

43. “Difficult doesn’t mean impossible. It simply means that you have to work hard.” – Anonymous

44. “Failure is success if we learn from it.” – Malcolm Forbes

45. “The number of followers you have does not make you better than anyone else. Hitler had millions, Jesus had 12” – Unknown

46. “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” – Buddha

47. “What good is an idea if it remains an idea? Try. Experiment. Iterate. Fail. Try again. Change the world.” – Simon Sinek

48. “Before you start any business, always ask yourself three questions – Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.” – Chanakya

49. “Identify your problems but give your power and energy to solutions.” – Tony Robbins

50. “The entrepreneur builds an enterprise; the technician builds a job.” – Michael Gerber

“Behind every successful person there’s a lot of unsuccessful years.” – Unknown

51. “My son is now an ‘entrepreneur’. That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job.” – Ted Turner

52. “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – Bill Gates

business quotes of all time

53. “Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki

54. “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.” – Zig Ziglar

55. “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” – Voltaire

56. “Hope for the best, expect the worst — and take what comes.”’ – Unknown

57. “It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going.” – Brian Tracy

58. “People are not lazy. They simply have important goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.” – Tony Robbins

59. “The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors.” – Napoleon Hill

60. “Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.” – Chanakya

“100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.” – Simon Sinek

If you are liking this list of motivational business quotes, please do share it with others.

61. “Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.” – Chanakya

62. “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

63. “Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle  wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will  be killed. Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the  slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether  you are a Lion or a Gazelle… when the sun comes up, you’d better be  running.” – Christopher McDougall

64. “If you hate waking up on Saturday’s, change your friends. If you hate waking up on Monday’s, change your job” – Unknown

65. “What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.” – Paulo Coelho

66. “The very first company I started failed with a great bang. The second one failed a little bit less, but still failed. The third one, you know, proper failed, but it was kind of okay. I recovered quickly. Number four almost didn’t fail. It still didn’t really feel great, but it did okay. Number five was PayPal.” – Max Levchin

67. “Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck.” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

68. “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” – Thomas J. Watson

69. “If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small.” – Azim Premji

70. “Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” – Japanese Proverb

“There are two rules for success: 1) Never tell everything you know.” – Roger H. Lincoln

71. “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” – Chinese Proverb

72. “Don’t worry about others doing better than you.  Concentrate on beating your own records every day.  Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.” – Anonymous

73. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” – Audrey Hepburn

74. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho

75. “Approach the start of each day with one goal and end the day with one word:DONE!” – Anonymous

76. “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.” – Simon Sinek

77. “If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.” – Simon Sinek

78. “Work until your idols become your rivals.” – Unknown

79. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

80. “A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can’t. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close?” – Jim Young

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain

81. “Do or do not. There is no try.” Yoda

82. “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.” – Harold Geneen

83. “Those who say it can not be done, should not interrupt those doing it.” – Chinese Proverb

Quote-on-resource-utilization

84. “People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.” – Cass, Lewis

85. “When you want success as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.” – Eric Thomas

86. “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.” – Captain Jack Sparrow

87. “Amazing things rarely happen in your comfort zone.” – Unknown

88. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

89. “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

90. “People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.” – Earl Nightingale

“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

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91. “The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.” – Shiv Singh

92. “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.” – Mahatma Gandhi

93. “Don’t follow a model that doesn’t work. If the recipe sucks, it doesn’t matter how good a cook you are.” – Tim Ferriss

94. “Great brands are like great stories. And every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And our job is to make sure that every chapter of our stories makes sense to the one in front of it and make sense to the one after it. There is no such thing as an overnight success. You have to get up and put your work boots on every single day.” – Kevin Plank

95. “The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.” —Tom Peters

96. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett

97. “Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s more productive.” – Donald Trump

98. “Everybody pities the weak; jealousy you have to earn.” ― Arnold Schwarzenegger

99. “Winning is fun, but it teaches you nothing. Failure is the best teacher in the world. Winning is a trophy, failing is an education.” – Unknown

100. “There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” – Kenneth H. Blanchard

“Between the ages of 15 and 32, don’t worry about getting married, don’t worry about settling down, don’t worry about having a baby. Give birth to yourself.” –Kelly Cutrone

101. “Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.” – Unknown

102. “The tiny seed knew that in order to grow, it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered in darkness, struggle to reach the light.” – Sandra Kring

103. “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

 inspirational business quotes

104. “One of the marks of successful people is they are action oriented. One of the marks of average people is they are talk oriented.” – Brian Tracy

105. “In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

106. “Never tell your problems to anyone… 20% don’t care and the other 80% are glad you have them.” – Lou Holtz

107. “Don’t stop when you’re tired; stop when you’re done.” – Marilyn Monroe

108. “Do the work others aren’t willing to do, and you’ll get the things others will never have.” – Anonymous

109. “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein

110. “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.” – Gita

111. “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” – John Lennon

So there you go! I’ll be updating this list of motivational business quotes regularly. So make sure to keep an eye on it.

Your best motivational business quotes?

So I’m dying to know… which business quote(s) most inspired you? Do you know of any other good motivational business quotes I may have missed? Please share them in the comments and spread the word about the post if you find it useful!

84 thoughts on “111 Motivational Business Quotes of All Time”

  1. Hi Rahul,

    You’re amazing. You started off the list of motivational business quotes with the “START” and ended it up with an “END” ;)

    Quotes are one of my favorite things, and I’ve bookmarked the post for future reference. I will consider pinning few of them on my walls.

    Here are few of my best motivational business quotes haven’t listed here.

    “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” ~ Zig Ziglar

    “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ~ Micheal Jordan

    “Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.” ~ Zig Ziglar

    “If you can dream it, then you can achieve it.” ~ Zig Ziglar

    Gonna tweet it now!

  2. Hi Rahul , I frequently read quotes on different websites. But this list is amazing, almost all are highly motivated. Thanks for sharing them. Well my favorites are :

    “Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki

    “The number one reason people fail in life is because they listen to their friends, family, and neighbors.” – Napoleon Hill

  3. Hi Rahul,
    Very inspiring and motivational business quotes you shared. . .
    My personal favorite is — “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs” . .
    i’m on the process of building my own dreams. . .
    Thanks for sharing this awesome list :)

  4. These 3 are my personal favorite:

    1- If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.
    2-Never tell your problems to anyone… 20% don’t care and the other 80% are glad you have them.
    3-There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

    I would say, a great compilation of great thoughts by great people :) Well done Rahul.

  5. Again great post:)
    Focus on creating great content. I really enjoyed this post while reading. it is a nice one because it deals with an interesting ideas and information. I like it so much as from the first time i read it, the information that are used here attracted me a lot. They take my attention from the first look, thank you so much for sharing with us this great topic in this great website. You are doing a great work here. I must say you’ve done a wonderful job by sharing your article with us. Thanks for this most informative post.

  6. Hi Rahul Kuntala

    I am cheated by my business partner and i have started a new business to show him that i can do better.
    I personally like Quote “The best revenge is massive success.” that will be the right answer to any cheater.

    Thanks for sharing motivational quotes

    • Hi Sunidhi,

      That’s great! BTW it’s somehow related to my journey too! Hope you’ll achieve great success in your journey. Don’t forget, “hard work is the KEY”.

      Cheers,
      Rahul

  7. This is a great inspirational post. Thanks for sharing. We all need encouragement.

    This is one of my favourite quotes, “Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” ~ William Durant

    This is another inspiring one, “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

    Have a good evening. :-)

  8. You done great job…every single Quotes you given is valuable for me…Especially the picture you given “Pursuit Of Happiness”….one of my favorite…Any way thanks for a good writing.

  9. Hi Rahul,
    Amazing quotes! Wow! And the quote which I love the most is this:

    “100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.” – Simon Sinek

    I shared this on my Facebook & Twitter as well brother! What a tremendous collection! Awesome!!!

  10. Great Post Indeed!

    I saw many quotes but just on the sites of Quote but you have given us Opportunity to enjoy these quotes on this Blog! I think you are the Lover of Quote ;)

    In this list many quotes are my favourite that’s why it is difficult that which post i write here. Well, The below quote is my best from favourites :)

    “Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck.” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

    Thank you so so much ” Rahul ” for Sharing this Amazing article! Keep it Up.

  11. Nice Quotes Rahul,
    Ya truly said “Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep.” Like your post, keep it up..

  12. “It takes 20 years to become an overnight success.” – Eddie Cantor

    That was my favorite. I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before.

    Solid list man! I like your blog!

  13. Hi Rahul, Wonderful list of motivational business quotes. My personal favorite is: “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs”. Your list of quotes was amazing. They forced me to think on further. Feeling quite motivated and inspired. Thanks for motivating me!! Needed it badly!!

  14. Hi Rahul , .

    You are doing such a great Job. The article you share is really motivating , and inspirational ..

    We all are waiting for your new Post.

    Thanks for sharing motivational quotes

  15. Hey Rahul!

    Hmm… the sixth one:
    “Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.” – Farrah Gray

    A similar quote is by Tony Gaskin as well:
    “If you don’t build your dreams, someone will hire you to help build theirs”

    One more said by Dirubhai Ambani:
    “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs!”

    Hehe.. all this reminds me of yet another quote:
    “The problem with quotes on the Internet is that you can’t always be sure of their authenticity” – Abraham Lincoln!

    This comment was both, a bit serious, but mainly a joke ;) Nice work thought, Rahul :D

    Got a whole lot of quotes which I can tweet now ;)

  16. Hi Rahul,
    I write something…
    If you will keep on doing, whatever you were doing,
    if you will keep on getting, whatever you were getting. – By Shiv Khera

    Means if you want to become a successful person so you have to do new thing.
    Thank you

  17. Hi Rahul,
    I write something..
    If you will keep on doing, whatever you were doing,
    If you will keep on getting, whatever you were getting. – by Shiv Khera

    Means if you want to become a successful person so you have to do some thing new.
    Thank you :-)

  18. Really nice motivational quotes… Maybe, you could post this type of motivational post often. It helps me to keep motivated after reading such posts. Shared.

  19. Hy Rahul,
    Thats really an awesome integration of inspirational quotes. I must say, a great compilation to read and worth sparing time as well.

    Keep updating such motivational stuff. It helps us. :)

  20. “Life has two rules – never quit and remember the first one”
    “The best revenge is massive success”

    I would be frank that I didn’t go through all the quotes but these two are really superb. I am going to get them framed and put in on my wall.
    If I get time, I am going to go through all the quotes as I know they might be great and inspiring too!
    Thanks for sharing them with us mate :)

  21. Great motivational quotes. Most of them are likely to appear on people´s statuses on Facebook. Thanks for sharing. It would be great if you could post more of them. Each of them is special. Great!

  22. Great collection of quotes, they are all quite inspiring. I am wondering, how much hard work you would have put up to come up with this big list.

  23. Dropped by your blog to check the latest posts and found this list. A bit of inspiration is always welcome.

    I’m going to bookmark this page. Gonna come back again and read it over and over again. It feels good :)

  24. They are motivational and i totally love them, and i totally feel that your blog is quite different from what i regularly see, but its cool and most importantly awesome..

  25. HI, Rahul

    Your all blog posts are really having at least value, I was thinking only people those are belonging to western country or they are living their they can make it possible easily.

    But you did it.

    I think now, any one can do any thing in his life, but you have to do hard work.

    Thanks for providing such motivational quotes.

  26. Quote no 73 “nothing is impossible in this world” has always been a guiding principle in my whole life so far and that is why I rarely fail in any kind of work I do.

  27. you have done great job….
    people might get frustrated after doing lot of work for their business or their blog….
    For those people this post really helps it.
    I am also gonna start a new blog on Health on which mostly i will provide Removing Stress….:)

  28. HI, Rahul

    Your all blog posts are really having at least value, I was thinking only people those are belonging to western country or they are living their they can make it possible easily.

    But you did it.

    I think now, any one can do any thing in his life, but you have to do hard work.

    Thanks for providing such motivational quotes

  29. So many wonderful quotes gathered in one place! Thank you for the motivational boost! I will make sure to forward the list to my friends and family.

  30. this one is the best that to take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” – Swami Vivekananda

  31. Hi Rahul,
    I’m waiting for a new post. :P

    Loved the quotes. I think, you should cover more of such quotes in some of your future posts too.

    Hell, I think you should start an actual website of quotes. :)

  32. Amazing post… I really like these motivational quotes in this post. This post is so inspiring for me. Wanna know what’s your future post schedule??? so that I can read your future posts. Thanks for sharing. :D

  33. Dear Rahul Kuntala,
    Thank you this type of motivational post. We can motivate various way but you can motivate people easily. Because this article depend on quote of world famous person. They are not here but this quote motivate us severely. I can say every article reader please don’t avoid this article.

    Thank you again.

  34. ”People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.” – Earl Nightingale—– This quote is also my business goal.. Very VERY NICE COLLECTION

  35. Hi, Rahul
    Great list you got there. My favorite one is
    “Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”
    –Albert Einstein

  36. Fantastic job done Rahul. I just loved your work here. Lovely. I visited your blog for the first time. Very big list. Not completed reading all but done with few. Really mind blowing qoutes. I will be more happy if you guest post on my blog http://seotechyworld.com/. Not much popular. But, it will be grow soon. Would you like to be interviewd at my blog. If interested, please reply here.

  37. “Don’t stop when you’re tired; stop when you’re done.” – Marilyn Monroe
    That really resonates with me as it advises me to only stop a chore when I’m done with it and not when I am tired.

    Good job, love this compilation even though I have not been able to go through all the quotes.

  38. “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
    – Will Rogers

  39. Hello Rahul,
    I really like this line “The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” – Nolan Bushnell.
    This line has the spark to inspire every entrepreneur.
    Nice collection. Thanks for sharing the inspiring quotes.

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