Starting and running a small business is full of challenges and rewards. To inspire and guide small business owners, we’ve gathered a collection of quotes from various leaders and thinkers. These quotes offer insights and motivation for navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
50+ Motivational Small Business Quotes
- “Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
- “Bringing great people onto your team is about demonstrating that size really doesn’t matter – people do.” – Jess Campbell
- “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
- “In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.” – Warren Buffett
- “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg
- “Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser
- “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
- “To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.” – Thomas J. Watson
- “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
- “Don’t worry about being successful but work toward being significant and the success will naturally follow.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.” – Steve Jobs
- “Hustle until your haters ask if you’re hiring.” – Unknown
- “A big business starts small.” – Richard Branson
- “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” – Howard Schultz
- “Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” – Seth Godin
- “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
- “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” – Scott Belsky
- “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs
- “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.” – Tony Hsieh
- “If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.” – Mark Zuckerberg
- “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.” – Michael John Bobak
- “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
- “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” – Reid Hoffman
- “Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.” – Tony Hsieh
- “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” – Peter Drucker
- “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates
- “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
- “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb
- “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
- “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
- “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretz
- “The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” – Thomas Edison
- “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.” – Richard Branson
- “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein
- “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.” – Amelia Earhart
- “The only way to achieve the impossible is to believe it is possible.” – Charles Kingsleigh
- “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” – William Butler Yeats
- “If you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business.” – B.C. Forbes
- “Every problem is a gift—without problems we would not grow.” – Anthony Robbins
- “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” – Dhirubhai Ambani
- “Dream big, start small, but most of all, start.” – Simon Sinek
- “A small business is an amazing way to serve and leave an impact on the world you live in.” – Nicole Snow
- The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake – you can’t learn anything from being perfect.” – Adam Osborne
- “Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.” – Alice Morse Earle
- “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
- “The dream is free. The hustle is sold separately.” – Unknown
- “The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.” – Richard Bach
- “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
- “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali
- “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
- “If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on.” – Sheryl Sandberg
- “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
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50+ Inspirational Small Business Quotes
- “The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and actualizer. He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.” – Robert L. Schwartz
- “Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.” – Peter Drucker
- “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
- “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter Drucker
- “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” – Ralph Nader
- “The key to success is to start before you are ready.” – Marie Forleo
- “Success is not what you have, but who you are.” – Bo Bennett
- “The best investment is in the tools of one’s own trade.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” – Richard Branson
- “Your work is discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” – Buddha
- “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou
- “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
- “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson
- “The best revenge is massive success.” – Frank Sinatra
- “The golden rule for every business man is this: Put yourself in your customer’s place.” – Orison Swett Marden
- “To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.” – Sr. Thomas Watson
- “The more you dream, the farther you get.” – Michael Phelps
- “I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.” – G. K. Chesterton
- “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” – John Wayne
- “If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.” – Ray Kroc
- “The most successful entrepreneurs I know are optimistic. It’s part of the job description.” – Caterina Fake
- “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley
- “Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor.” – Brian Tracy
- “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
- “The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try.” – Debbi Fields
- “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” – Vince Lombardi
- “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” – Steve Jobs
- “Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden
- “The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.” – John D. Rockefeller Jr.
- “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
- “The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.” – Unknown
- “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.” – Tony Hsieh
- “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney
- “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon
- “I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of not trying.” – Jay Z
- “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs
- “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
- “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill
- “It’s not about money or connections – it’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone.” – Mark Cuban
- “Your biggest risk isn’t failing, it’s getting too comfortable.” – Drew Houston
- “Every problem is a gift—without problems we would not grow.” – Anthony Robbins
- “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis
- “Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.” – Seth Godin
- “Diligence is the mother of good luck.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “The road to success is always under construction.” – Lily Tomlin
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
- “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” – Scott Belsky
- “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estée Lauder
- “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” – Albert Schweitzer
- “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee
- “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
- “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
- “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right.” – Henry Ford
- “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius
- “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
- “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
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