Generosity is something we learn, from our parents, schools and community.
Business is a cobweb of human relationships
You don't have to be the biggest to beat the biggest.
Written reports stifle creativity.
Success is like Halley's comet, you know. Every now and then it just comes around.
[In Moscow] we got through to [Soviet leaders] Brezhnev and Kosygin on the telephone. I think it was because nobody had ever tried to call them at home before.
If we decide to take this level of business creating ability nationwide, we'll all be plucking chickens for a living.
Life is like a cobweb, not an organization chart.
We have to succeed, so we will.
The one thing I know through experience ... is that people don't know why they come to work until they don't have to come to work.
Which one of the three candidates would you want your daughter to marry?
Big is not beautiful. Big is inefficient.
The first EDSer to see a snake kills it. At GM, first thing you do is organize a committee on snakes. Then you bring in a consultant who knows a lot about snakes. Third thing you do is talk about it for a year.
In plain Texas talk, it's 'do the right thing'
Revitalizing General Motors is like teaching an elephant to tap dance. You find the sensitive spot and start poking.
Anybody can cut prices, but it takes brains to produce a better article.
Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You'd be amazed how many companies don't listen to their customers.
If someone as blessed as I am is not willing to clean out the barn, who will?
If you can't stand a little sacrifice and you can't stand a trip across the desert with limited water, we're never going to straighten this country out.
Japan is our rival, not our enemy. Japan is a competitor... Bashing a Toyota won't make a better car.
A weak currency is the sign of a weak economy, and a weak economy leads to a weak nation.
I love this country, I love the principles on which it's founded.
I was born rich. Not in tangible things... but rich in the parents I had.
It takes five years to design a new car in this country. Heck, we won World War II in four years.
If we did not have such a thing as an airplane today, we would probably create an agency the size of NASA to build one.
The American dream. Those three short, simple words encompass the hopes and aspirations of all the peoples on earth. The words are not only short and simple. They are also fragile.
Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they're going to make mistakes.
This planet is our home. If we destroy the planet, we've destroyed our home, so it is fundamentally important.
Modern politics has become little more than shirking responsibility and blaming somebody else.
My role in life is that of the grain of sand to the oyster-it irritates the oyster and out comes a pearl.
Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success.
Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.
One voice is tiny, and alone it cannot be heard above the din of politics as usual. The peoples voice, when it cries as one, is a great roar.
Don't run your life by what's legal or illegal. Run your life based on what's right or wrong.
Life is never more fun than when you're the underdog competing against the giants.
Most new jobs won't come from our biggest employers. They will come from our smallest. We've got to do everything we can to make entrepreneurial dreams a reality.
I honestly believe I'd make one of the worst elected officials in the history of this country.
Anything that is excellent or praiseworthy stands moment by moment on the cutting edge and must be constantly fought for. Well placed priorities always sit on the edge.
The best way to make money is not to have money as your primary goal. I've seen great people come into the business world primarily motivated to make money. Almost without exception they failed.
If you see a snake, just kill it - don't appoint a committee on snakes.
Talk is cheap. Words are plentiful. Deeds are precious.
Failures are like skinned knees, painful but superficial.
It is the individual's ability to deal with the unexpected that characterizes the difference between success and failure.
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, the public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled.
There is no accountability in the public school system - except for coaches. You know what happens to a losing coach. You fire him. A losing teacher can go on losing for 30 years and then go to glory.
Never ask anyone to do what you haven't done before and wouldn't do again. That's a pretty fundamental rule in leadership... treat them like you treat yourself. Things you don't like, they don't like.
War has rules, mud wrestling has rules - politics has no rules.
Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationships.
So many people spend their lives chasing money and end up as the richest men in the cemetery. I don't want to be like that.
The most successful people in the world aren't usually the brightest. They are the ones who persevere.
I came from an environment where if you see a snake, you kill it. At General motors, if you see a snake, the first thing you do is to hire a consultant on snakes.
The debt is like a crazy aunt we keep down in the basement. All the neighbors know she's there, but nobody wants to talk about her.
In business, people are held accountable. In Washington, nobody is held accountable. In business, people are judged on results. In Washington, people are measured by their ability to get reelected.
Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.
The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.
If we really want to know who is responsible for the mess we're in, all we have to do is look in the mirror. You and I own this country, and we are responsible for what happens to it.
When building a team, I always search first for people who love to win. If I can't find any of those, I look for people who hate to lose.
Action is greater than writing. A good man is a nobler object of contemplation than a great author. There are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written; and to write what is worthy of being read.
We must return immigration to a logical, orderly process where people fill out their applications and wait for approval. We must make sure illegal immigrants stop storming our borders. We must establiesh the correct criteria, such as our need for certain job skills or education, for granting the right to immigrate into the United States.
Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility and commitment.
Keep in mind our Constitution predates the Industrial Revolution. Our founders did not know about electricity, the train, telephones, radio, television, automobiles, airplanes, rockets, nuclear weapons, satellites, or space exploration. There's a lot they didn't know about. It would be interesting to see what kind of document they'd draft today. Just keeping it frozen in time won't hack it.
Guys, just remember, if you get lucky, if you make a lot of money, if you get out and buy a lot of stuff--it's gonna break. You got your biggest, fanciest mansion in the world. It has air conditioning. It's got a pool. Just think of all the pumps that are going to go out. Or go to a yacht basin any place in the world. Nobody is smiling, and I'll tell you why. Something broke that morning. The generator's out; the microwave oven doesn't work . . . Things just don't mean happiness.
