Top 20 Entrepreneurial Quotes

I recently read a quote that inspired me and thought, "Why not share it with others?" I've also collected a list of quotes from entrepreneurs and other quotes that are relevant to entrepreneurship. Skip and I included our own at the bottom of the post. I hope one of these quotes inspires you as well.

1. I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist
2. The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary - Vidal Sassoon, entrepreneur
3. Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't - A student in Warren G. Tracy's class, entrepreneur (Thanks Daniel!)
4. The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning - to create a product or service to make the world a better place - Guy Kawasaki, entrepreneur, investor, author
5. Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory - Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader
6. Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners - Robert T. Kiyosaki, author, entrepreneur, investor
7. Entrepreneurs average 3.8 failures before final success. What sets the successful ones apart is their amazing persistence - Lisa M. Amos
8. Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life - John F. Kennedy, U.S. President
9. In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable - Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President
10. The greatest reward in becoming a millionaire is not the amount of money that you earn. It is the kind of person that you have to become to become a millionaire in the first place - Jim Rohn
11. Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them - Anonymous
12. Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make - Donald Trump, real estate and entertainment mogul 
13. The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look. The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities - Michael Gerber, author, entrepreneur
14. An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he'll quickly learn how to chew it - Roy Ash, co-founder of Litton Industries
15. The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer - Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's
16. I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful - Warren Buffet, investor and billionaire
17. I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist
18. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover - Mark Twain, author
19. There is a tide in the affairs of men
    Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
    Omitted, all the voyage of their life
    Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
    On such a full sea are now afloat;
    And we must take the current when it serves,
    Or lose the ventures before us - William Shakespeare, author
20. Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration - Thomas Edison, inventor and scientist

Here are our quotes: 

Being an entrepreneur is a lot like playing poker - you can fold, limp in, or go for it - Yasmine Mustafa

If you kick it around enough, it starts to look like a ball - Skip Shuda

What's your favorite quote?

Update: Help us reach a 1,000 diggs by clicking here. Also, check out the comments for additional quotes.

Related Posts:

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Win Capital for your Startup

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By: Yasmine

Comments

[Knute]

Good ones! I probably like Shakespeare's quote over Warren Buffet's, but Buffet's quote was very interesting also.

[Hillel]

Great post!

[pyrmont]

Awesome Post, am going to print and keep in my success manuscript!!!

[Rita]

Nice motivational quotes I stumbled this!

[prakash]

nice one dude!
i liked no.6

[Edwin, Cash The Checks]

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes..
"The true mark of a winner in life is not only how you handle failure but how you handle success."

and Albert Einstein:
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

- Edwin, http://www.CashTheChecks.com/

[Jeb Archer]

What people dont realise is that green homes and buildings are not only worth more (resale value) but are creating more reveneu as well. Higher occupancy rates paired with higher rental premiums equals more money in VC's pockets.
www.initred.com

[Jeb Archer]

What people dont realise is that green homes and buildings are not only worth more (resale value) but are creating more reveneu as well. Higher occupancy rates paired with higher rental premiums equals more money in VC's pockets.
www.initred.com

[Sara]

Great quotes, love it!

http://www.bizfunnel.com

[Abunza]

Great quotes!

[Walt Goshert]

“… when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment… or the moment defines you.” Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy

[Aaron]

Excellent blog!
Thanks for raising the flag of entrepreneurship!
Happy New Year!

[Pinny Cohen]

"Life is like a dog-sled team, if you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes."

[Yasmine]

Skip and I would like to thank everyone for their feedback and comments. We're extremely happy that you enjoyed this post and we hope you'll visit our blog again.

Thanks!

Yasmine

[Joshua Saunders]

Great post. It's always nice to reflect back on what drives us to get up and push harder everyday.

[BBrian]

"There are two types of people in the world: those who think things through and those who follow things through"

[Rob Schultz]

leadx, that's like the 7 P's:
Prior
Proper
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

[Rob Schultz]

Excellent Post. Printed and hanging on my wall for inspiration!

[Matt Ellsworth]

Nice - i love the edison quotes.

[Buttoned-Up.com]

Great list. Very inspirational.

[David]

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.
~ Salvador Dali ~

[leadx]

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
Allen Lakein
http://www.youquoted.com

[Jason]

Forward is a relative term, just keep moving.

-Jason May

[rage]

life is too short to live someone else dream. - Hue Hefner

[KirkH]

On knowing when to move on to the next idea:

"He who sees the empty glass as half full is not an optimist, he just has a drinking problem."