100 Business Inspiration Quotes to Ignite Ideas
Sometimes, all it takes is the right thought at the right time to spark a new idea or change your perspective.
That’s where inspiration comes in. This selection of business quotes is designed to help you think differently, push boundaries, and stay connected to your purpose.
Whether you’re in need of a creative boost or just want to feel reenergized, these quotes will speak to your entrepreneurial spirit.
Top Business Inspiration Quotes
Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working. ~ Pablo Picasso
The best way to predict the future is to create it. ~ Peter Drucker
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
The only way to do great work is to love what you do. ~ Steve Jobs
Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. ~ John D. Rockefeller
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ~ Mark Twain
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~ Winston Churchill
The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do. ~ Unknown
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. ~ Jim Rohn
The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. ~ Ayn Rand
Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today. ~ Will Rogers
You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. ~ Zig Ziglar
The harder you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it. ~ Unknown
Dream big and dare to fail. ~ Norman Vaughan
What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle, and giving 110% all the time. ~ Don Zimmer
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Believe you can and you’re halfway there. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. ~ George Addair
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. ~ Les Brown
Creative Vision Quotes
Vision without execution is hallucination. ~ Thomas Edison
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. ~ Confucius
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ~ Thomas A. Edison
Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th. ~ Julie Andrews
Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. ~ Sam Levenson
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. ~ Jimmy Johnson
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. ~ Jim Rohn
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. ~ Robert Collier
The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. ~ Winston Churchill
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. ~ Arthur Ashe
Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. ~ Norman Vincent Peale
If you’re going through hell, keep going. ~ Winston Churchill
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~ William James
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. ~ C.S. Lewis
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. ~ Zig Ziglar
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. ~ Joshua J. Marine
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. ~ Amelia Earhart
Innovative Thinking Quotes
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. ~ Steve Jobs
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Innovation is taking two things that exist and putting them together in a new way. ~ Tom Freston
There’s a way to do it better—find it. ~ Thomas Edison
Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time. ~ Bill Gates
Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat. ~ Steve Jobs
The enterprise that does not innovate ages and declines. And in a period of rapid change such as the present, the decline will be fast. ~ Peter Drucker
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. ~ Theodore Levitt
Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity. ~ Michael Porter
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. ~ John Maynard Keynes
You can’t solve a problem on the same level that it was created. You have to rise above it to the next level. ~ Albert Einstein
Innovation comes from saying NO to 1,000 things. ~ Steve Jobs
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. ~ Albert Einstein
If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. ~ Albert Einstein
Creativity is intelligence having fun. ~ Albert Einstein
The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic. ~ Peter Drucker
Innovation is change that unlocks new value. ~ Jamie Notter
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. ~ Linus Pauling
Imagination is more important than knowledge. ~ Albert Einstein
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination. ~ Albert Einstein
Transformative Leadership Quotes
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. ~ Warren Bennis
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. ~ Peter Drucker
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. ~ John C. Maxwell
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ~ Ralph Nader
Leadership is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in your charge. ~ Simon Sinek
A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be. ~ Rosalynn Carter
The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things. ~ Ronald Reagan
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit. ~ Arnold H. Glasow
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. ~ John F. Kennedy
The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. ~ Jim Rohn
Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. ~ Bill Bradley
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. ~ Lao Tzu
The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. ~ Kenneth H. Blanchard
Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. ~ Peter Drucker
The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. ~ John Maxwell
A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. ~ Douglas MacArthur
Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another. ~ John C. Maxwell
The task of the leader is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been. ~ Henry Kissinger
Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work. ~ Seth Godin
Purposeful Business Quotes
The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer. ~ Peter Drucker
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. ~ Henry Ford
In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination. ~ Steve Case
If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful. ~ Jeff Bezos
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
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. ~ Peter Drucker
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. ~ Simon Sinek
The best marketing strategy ever: CARE. ~ Gary Vaynerchuk
Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell. ~ Seth Godin
The more authentic you are, the more genuine your brand will be, and the more your audience will trust you. ~ Anonymous
A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is. ~ Scott Cook
Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue. ~ Andrew Davis
Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room. ~ Jeff Bezos
Good service is good business. ~ Siebel Ad
Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten. ~ Gucci Family Motto
The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary. ~ Sam Walton
Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. ~ Kevin Stirtz
The customer’s perception is your reality. ~ Kate Zabriskie
The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing. ~ John Russell
Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them. ~ W. Edwards Deming
