No man is fit to be a cheesemonger who cannot guess the length of a street.
~ William Saint Julien Arabin, in Arabiniana; or, The Remains of Mr Serjeant Arabin (1843).
If my own son, who is now 10 months, came to me and said, "You promised to pay for my tuition at Harvard; how about giving me $50,000 instead to start a little business?" I might think that was a good idea.
~ William John Bennett, in The New York Times (12 February 1985).
The rewards in business go to the man who does something with an idea.
~ William Burnett Benton
Let us prove to the world that good taste, good art, good writing can be good selling.
~ Bill Bernbach
Nobody counts the number of ads you run, they just remember the impression you make.
~ Bill Bernbach, Bill Bernbach said . . . (1989).
Our job is to bring the dead facts to life.
~ Bill Bernbach, Bill Bernbach said . . . (1989).
We think we will never know as much about a product as a client. After all, he sleeps and breathes his product. He's built it. He's lived with it most of his life. We couldn't possible know as much about it as he does. By the same token, we firmly believe that he can't know as much about advertising. Because we live and breathe that all day long.
~ Bill Bernbach, Quoted in The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with Masters of the Craft (1990).
You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You've got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don't feel it, nothing will happen.
~ Bill Bernbach, Bill Bernbach said . . . (1989).
There's something we haven't mentioned here. This is a business. Phooey to the art form. You should use a businessman's head when doing it. Not an actor's head or you'll starve to death.
~ Bill Bixby, The Milwaukee Journal (15 August 1965). Interview on the Acting Profession
You know how this business is. It limits a performer, it makes him a specialist. That's great if you want to be a star; bad if you want to be an actor. I've always wanted to be an actor.
~ Bill Bixby, Angeles Herald Examiner (30 September 1973).
If your business keeps you so busy that you have no time for anything else, there must be something wrong, either with you or with your business.
~ William J.H. Boetcker
Nothing gives a used car more miles per gallon than the salesman.
~ Billy Boswell
My first rule of consumerism is never to buy anything you can't make your children carry.
~ Bill Bryson
If you're gonna do business with a religious son of a bitch. . . . GET IT IN WRITING. His word ain't worth sh[*]t, not with the good Lord teaching him how to f[*]ck you on the deal.
~ William S. Burroughs, in Spare Ass Annie And Other Tales (1993 album). Words of Advice for Young People
To know, to appreciate, and to do -- this is perhaps the whole business of life.
~ (William) Bliss Carman, The Friendship of Art (1904). Business and Beauty
A realm must needs be poor that carryeth not out more than it bringeth in.
~ William Cecil, Lord Burghley
What! all this for a song?
~ William Cecil, Lord Burghley, (on paying for Spenser's Faerie Queene; c. 1590)
Low inflation is just part of this best-of-all worlds scenario in the U.S.
~ William Cheney
Public property is never so well taken care of as private property; and this, too, on the maxim, that that which is every body's business is nobody's business.
~ William Cobbett, Advice to Young Men: And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life (1829). Letter VI: To A Citizen
This is the Hartford Heresy. Economic, material security, life insurance, endowments, annuities take the place of a providential destiny, so that ultimate values are not built upon a rock whose name is Peter, but upon a rock whose name is Prudential.
~ William T. Costello, Address (December 1948).
A business with an income at its heels
Furnishes always oil for its own wheels.
~ William Cowper, from Poems by William Cowper of the Inner Temple, Esq. (1782). Retirement
The band of commerce was design'd
To associate all the branches of mankind;
And if a boundless plenty be the robe,
Trade is the golden girdle of the globe.
~ William Cowper, from The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper (1842). Charity (written in 1782)
Aspire nobly, adventure daringly, and serve humbly.
~ William H. Danforth (motto of Purina Mills, 1894).
Here at the end of the twentieth century, four decades into the computer age, it is increasingly obvious that the very nature of business itself is information.
~ William H. Davidow
We all had immediate love for the company, growing up in the family. The conversations during Christmas and Thanksgiving and at the family get-togethers were all around Harley-Davidson, and at a very young age we were always a part of those conversations. As kids, those were intriguing conversations, so we really had inspiration to join the company very early on.
~ Bill Davidson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (27 August 2003). In the wings: Still more Davidsons -- Fourth generation of co-founder's family rising through the ranks
Our company is a very unique place. Having grown up riding bikes all of our lives is just indescribable. For us to have succeeded after some very tough times makes this (celebration) very emotional. I was one of the 13 people who bought the company back from AMF in 1981. This is all just icing on the cake. What better way to celebrate than riding around this great country of ours on a motorcycle.
~ Willie G. Davidson (on "The Legacy Ride," aka "The Ride Home"), The Amarillo Globe-News (23 August 2003). Amarillo goes Hog wild: Davidson joins riders on journey, in revelry
Innovation comes from the producer -- not from the customer.
~ W. Edwards Deming
Let us ask our suppliers to come and help us to solve our problems.
~ W. Edwards Deming
Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.
~ W. Edwards Deming
Quality starts in the boardroom.
~ W. Edwards Deming
The customer is the most important part of the production line.
~ W. Edwards Deming
You can not inspect quality into the product; it is already there.
~ W. Edwards Deming
Location, location, location.
~ William T. Dillard
The most important thing in running a successful business is to have customer confidence. You've got to satisfy your customers, and most important, you've got to give your customers their money's worth.
~ William T. Dillard, Mineral Springs AR (1985).
Despite the historical soundness . . . and integrity of American industry as a whole, there have clearly been numerous instances of serious malfeasance, which, if proven, we will continue and must continue to deal with swiftly . . . As my mother used to say many years ago: "It's time for all of us to pull up our socks."
~ William ("Bill") H. Donaldson, Ceremony announcing the nomination of Donaldson to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (10 December 2002).
It is time that all those who manage and govern our corporate and financial institutions show true leadership. . . . As chairman of the SEC I will call on them individually and collectively to create a new environment of integrity and accountability that goes well beyond adherence to laws.
~ William ("Bill") H. Donaldson, The White House, Office of the Press Secretary (18 February 2003). New SEC Chairman Sworn-In
The hallmark of our business and financial system is that the rule of law must prevail and when wrong-doing occurs, it must be confronted and punished. Today we do just that. These cases reflect a sad chapter in the history of American business -- a chapter in which those who reaped enormous benefits based on the trust of investors -- profoundly betrayed that trust.
~ William ("Bill") H. Donaldson, Speech at SEC Press Conference Regarding Global Settlement, Washington DC (28 April 2003).
Every time you pick up the newspaper you read about one company merging with another company. Of course, we have laws to protect competition in the United States, but one can't help thinking that, if the trend continues the whole country will soon be merged into one large company.
~ William Orville Douglas, Concurring opinion (1966). U.S. v. Pabst Brewing Co.
The interests of the corporation state are to convert all the riches of the earth into dollars.
~ William Orville Douglas, Points of Rebellion (1969). How America Views Dissent
The corporation has evolved to serve the interests of whoever controls it, at the expense of whoever does not.
~ William Dugger
The strikebreaker is the hero of American Industry.
~ Charles William Eliot
In history, old powers have often been worried about new countries grabbing all the manufacturing: Britain worried about America, Britain worried about Germany, America worried about Japan, and so on. But it is never true. Trade and currency movements mean that no one country is ever going to get a "stranglehold" of that sort.
~ Bill Emmott, Forbes.com (11 February 2003). CEO Network Chat With Bill Emmott
I don't think there's a company, a management, an audit committee that hasn't gone back and re-looked at what they're doing. . . . People are really scrutinizing and (want to) really make sure their houses are in order and clean.
~ William Esrey, Reuters (1 March 2002). U.S. CEOs fight to excape the accounting plague
We use the people who are in the bullpen producing.
~ Bill Evans, Wall Street Journal (26 March 1987).
Business is always interfering with pleasure, but it makes other pleasures possible.
~ William Feather
In closing a deal, what you don't say may be more helpful than what you do say.
~ William Feather, The Business of Life (1949).
Not a tenth of us who are in business are doing as well as we could if we merely followed the principles that were known to our grandfathers.
~ William Feather
The determination of life insurance salesmen to succeed has made life pretty soft for widows.
~ William Feather
When ordering lunch, the big executives are just as indecisive as the rest of us.
~ William Feather
The best thing to break is a contract.
~ W.C. Fields, in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W.C. Fields on Business (January 2000).
What is the presidency but a glorified business -- or, at least, a fine racket.
~ W.C. Fields, in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break: W.C. Fields on Business (January 2000).
The business of the Company since its organization in May 1880 has been in every way satisfactory.
~ William Hathaway Forbes, in AT&T's first annual report (then known as the American Bell Telephone Company, issued 29 March 1881).
For most of the last decade, the Ford Motor Company was on a roll. The great success we enjoyed may have caused us to underestimate the strength of our competitors.
~ William Clay Ford, Jr., The Associated Press (12 January 2002). Beleaguered Ford Cuts 35,000 Jobs
In the past, business might have been able to look the other way. We might have been able to expect someone else to act. But this is our time and our task.
~ William Clay Ford, Jr., Ford Update Magazine (2001).
Our reputation is the most precious asset we manage.
~ William Clay Ford, Jr., Speech at the Ford Motor Company Annual Meeting of Stockholders (10 May 2001).
Our revitalization plan is based on executing the fundamentals of our business to build great products. What we are outlining today is a comprehensive plan that builds for the future. It's going to take everyone in the extended Ford family -- employees, suppliers and dealers -- working together, over time, to make it work.
-William Clay Ford, Jr., Ford Motor Company Announces Revitalization Plan (11 January 2002).
The automobile industry is a complex global business. But you can boil it down to one simple fact: the companies with great products win.
~ William Clay Ford, Jr., Speech at the Ford Motor Company Annual Meeting of Stockholders (10 May 2001).
We want to produce automobiles that not only improve individual lives, but also the world around them.
~ William Clay Ford, Jr., Ford Update Magazine (2001).
Can't you see you go public and all these people owning you want is dividends and running their stock up, you don't give them that and they sell you out, you do and some bunch of vice presidents some place you never heard of like the ones that turned this out, this wood product they call it, they spot you and launch an offer and all of a sudden you're working for them trimming and cutting and finally bringing in people to turn something out they don't care what the hell it is, there's no pride in their work because what you've got them turning out nobody could be proud of in the first place.
~ William Gaddis, JR (1975).
Analytical software enables you to shift human resources from rote data collection to value-added customer service and support where the human touch makes a profound difference.
~ Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999).
If the 1980s were about quality and the 1990s were about re-engineering, then the 2000s will be about velocity. About how quickly business itself will be transacted. About how information access will alter the lifestyle of consumers and their expectations of business . . . The successful companies of the next decade will be the ones that use digital tools to reinvent the way they work.
~ Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999).
Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.
~ Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999).
It's a major milestone. The settlement puts new responsibilities on Microsoft and we accept them. I am personally committed to full compliance. We are committed to being a responsible industry leader.
~ Bill Gates, The Associated Press (2 November 2002). Reaction to the Microsoft Ruling
It's not just that the personal computer has come along as a great tool. The whole pace of business is moving faster. Globalization is forcing companies to do things in new ways.
~ Bill Gates
Often you have to rely on your intuition.
~ Bill Gates, in Adam Smith's Moneyworld (21 November 1987).
One thing people underestimate is how markets don't allow anyone to do anything except make better and better products.
~ Bill Gates
So the vision of Microsoft is pretty simple. It changed a couple years ago. For the first 25 years of the company, it was a personal computer on every desk and in every home. And it was a very good vision; very rare for a company to be able to stick with something like that for 25 years. The reason we changed it was simply that it became acceptable. . . . And so as we stepped back and looked at what we were trying to do with the programming model, turning the Internet into the fabric for distributed computing, getting your information to replicate in a very invisible way so that it was available to you everywhere, thinking of this programming model spanning all the different devices, we changed to the mission statement we have now, which is empowering people through great software anytime, any place and on any device.
~ Bill Gates, Remarks at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (7 August 2001).
The key for us, number one, has always been hiring very smart people.
~ Bill Gates
This antitrust thing will blow over.
~ Bill Gates
This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.
~ Bill Gates
Virtually every company will be going out and empowering their workers with a certain set of tools, and the big difference in how much value is received from that will be how much the company steps back and really thinks through their business processes.
~ Bill Gates
We bet the company on Windows and we deserve to benefit. It was a risk that's paid off immensely.
~ Bill Gates
Ten years ago, few writers seriously believed they could reach more readers on their own than they might by publishing with a traditional book publisher. The Internet has changed all that. As we are endlessly reminded, publishing in the electronic age is undergoing the most important changes in the way it conducts its business since the fifteenth century.
~ William Germano, Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books (2001). What Do Publishers Do?
A middleman's business is to make himself a necessary evil.
~ William Gibson, Neuromancer (July 1984).
Wonderful what a war can do for one's markets.
~ William Gibson, Neuromancer (July 1984).
[I]n business, an Inventor's little better than a fool.
~ William Schwenck (W.S.) Gilbert, from Songs of a Savoyard (1898). The Reward Of Merit
Finance is, as it were, the stomach of the country, from which all the other organs take their tone.
~ William Ewart Gladstone, in H.C.G. Matthew Gladstone 1809-1874 (1986). Article on finance (1858)
The modern stock corporation is a social and economic institution that touches every aspect of our lives; in many ways it is an institutionalized expression of our way of life. During the past 50 years, industry in corporate form has moved from the periphery to the very center of our social and economic existence. Indeed, it is not inaccurate to say that we live in a corporate society.
~ William T. Gossett, (1957).
The great, unreported story in globalization is about power, not ideology. It's about how finance and business regularly, continuously insert their own self-interested deals and exceptions into rules and agreements that are then announced to the public as "free trade."
~ William Greider, in The Nation magazine (24/31 July 2000). Media and Trade: A Love Story
But the problem is that business and media [are] incredibly savvy about co-opting rebellion at this point. They own it before it ever has the chance to gel and mature into anything powerful or threatening. It's to the point where you can convince a 30-year-old that it's a form of individuality or rebellion to wear a logo or buy a certain car.
~ William Henry Jackson (Bill) Griffith, Lowest Common Denominator magazine (Summer 1999).
Business has become, in this last half century, the most powerful institution on the planet. The dominant institution in any society needs to take responsibility for the whole -- as the church did in the days of the Holy Roman Empire. But business has not had such a tradition. This is a new role, not yet well understood or accepted.
~ Willis Harman, World Business Academy (1987).
Corporate bodies have no soul.
~ William Hazlitt, Table Talk, Essays on Men and Manners (1821-1822). On Corporate Bodies
I think it is a rule that men in business should not be taught other things. Any one will be almost sure to make money who has no other idea in his head.
~ William Hazlitt, Table Talk, Essays on Men and Manners (1821-1822). On the Disadvantages of Intellectual Superiority
What has happened in the valley is that companies are suddenly being cast, like movies, for their hit potential.
~ Will Hearst
I don't have the umbilical cord Pop had with each paper.
~ William Randolph Hearst (on the closing of New York Mirror), in The New York Times (16 October 1963).
Never try to take a fortified hill, especially if the army on top is bigger than your own.
~ William R. Hewlett, in The New York Times (10 March 1992). Hewlett's 'Consummate Strategist'
We did not want to run a hire-and-fire operation, but rather a company based on a loyal and dedicated work force.
~ William R. Hewlett
Pursuing is the business of our lives; and even abstracted from any other view, gives pleasure.
~ William Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty (1753). Chapter V: Of Intricacy
It's like they say, there's no damn business like show business. You had to smile to keep from throwing up.
~ Billie Holiday
Remember in business that success depends on the man and not the plan.
~ (Col.) William C. Hunter, Brass Tacks (1910).
You can neither make a good knife out of bad steel, nor good business out of bad schemes.
~ (Col.) William C. Hunter, Frozen Dog Tales and Other Things (1905).
All kinds of industries and companies have set foot in Sarawak. This continuous growth is good for the economy. However, many of them, ranging from heavy industries to the agriculture sector, produce hazardous or toxic waste. It is a price we have to pay for progress. . . . However, the ministry cannot compromise on the health of the people and the well-being of the environment.
~ Datuk William Mawan Ikom, Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd Long-term plan to handle toxic waste (26 October 2002).
The best way to build your future is to build yourself. And the best way to build your organization is to build your people.
~ Willie Jolley
The trader feels the effects more keenly, he sees the ruination of his character, health and fortune; but circumstances are such that he cannot remedy the evil, and their brightest prospects are crumblied in the dust; and many promising young men have been driven to dissipation, from which it is impossible to extricate themselves. The blame rests on the heads of the principals, and they will have to answer for it some day or other.
~ William Johnston, Letters on the Fur Trade (1833).
It seems to me from where I sit that it makes a lot of sense to try and promote as much competitive entry as we can . . . so that we can get out of the business of regulation.
~ William Kennard, (20 May 1999).
Require monopolies to share their facilities with their competitors, and require networks to interconnect at cost-based pricing. Manage your radio spectrum as the precious resource it is, in a manner that is fair and efficient.
~ William Kennard, Speech at the Budapest Business Journal Conference Budapest, Hungary (4 December 2000).
Merchandisers, by embedding subliminal trigger devices in media, are able to evoke a strong emotional relationship between, say, a product perceived in an advertisement weeks before and the strongest of all emotional stimuli -- love (sex) and death.
~ Wilson Bryan Key, Subliminal Seduction: Ad Media's Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America (1974).
In this business, the competition will bite you if you keep running, if you stand still, they will swallow you.
~ William Knudsen
This is an extraordinarily sensitive time in the development of local phone and broadband competition. The destructive enormity of the Tauzin-Dingell bill simply cannot be ignored or explained away.
~ William Lehr, in INT Media Group, Inc. Report Argues Against Tauzin-Dingell (25 February 2002)
As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way.
~ William McKnight, McKnight Principles (1948).
Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs.
~ William McKnight, McKnight Principles (1948).
Twenty-two years ago, when my law partner Bill Gates asked me to do a little legal work for his son's fledgling software company, I never dreamed what an amazing ride it was going to be. I feel privileged to be a part of this dynamic industry and to work with such talented and committed people both inside and outside Microsoft.
~ William H. Neukom, Press Release Bill Neukom to Step Down After 22 Years of Leading Microsoft's Legal Activities (21 November 2001)
Juries cannot award damages that would financially cripple or destroy a company, and no industry in the world can pay a $145 billion punitive damage award.
~ William Ohlemeyer
90% of the people in the stock market, professionals and amateurs alike, simply haven't done enough homework.
~ William J. O'Neil
The secret for winning in the stock market does not include being right all the time.
~ William J. O'Neil
For more than 100 years, out nation has surged forward under the momentum of the industrial revolution. . . . In essence, once these basic innovations were in place, our economy was destined to grow. In this setting, whatever beliefs developed about management were bound to be supported by success. Only now, when most of the benefits of those innovations (factory production, low-cost transportation, and communications) has been exhausted, are we forced to see that our paradigm of management never did contribute anything to that success.
~ William Ouchi, Theory Z (1981)
A Man in Business must put up many Affronts, if he loves his own Quiet.
~ William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude (1693).
In a competitive market, compromise -- that is, accepting half a loaf -- is often essential for survival. But compromise of a basic belief, such as truth or seeking to do what is right, does not result in half a loaf. It ends up being half a baby. . . . Half a baby is no baby at all. Half a belief is no belief at all.
~ C. William Pollard, The Soul of the Firm (December 1996).
The firm has the potential . . . to respond to the basic ethical question of the Marketplace: What is happening to the person in the process? Is she developing and growing as a whole person? Or is management just a game of manipulation that will accomplish a series of tasks for a profit, with a gain going to a few at the top and with an atrophy of the soul of the person producing the results? . . . We all need to be nurtured. In the firm, it is the responsibility of leadership to see that it happens.
~ C. William Pollard, The Soul of the Firm (December 1996).
In recent years, the chasm between high technology and old economy has narrowed. The uncertainties of a wired, ever-shifting global marketplace are imposing a start-up mentality throughout the corporate and professional world. That world is now adopting the peculiar style of interviewing that was formerly associated with lean, hungry technology companies. . . . Like it or not, puzzles and riddles are a hot new trend in hiring.
~ William Poundstone, Little Brown & Company (May 2003). How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle -- How the World's Smartest Company Selects the Most Creative Thinkers
I'm a trained killer -- in business.
~ Bill Rancic, NBC.com "The Apprentice" (January 2004). Contestant Bill Rancic
A holding company is a thing where you hand an accomplice the goods while the policeman searches you.
~ Will Rogers
I don't care how poor and inefficient a little country is; they like to run their own business. I know men that would make my wife a better husband than I am, but, darn it, I'm not going to give her to 'em.
~ Will Rogers
If you can build a business up big enough, it's respectable.
~ Will Rogers, (1924)
If you want to know how a man stands, go among the people who are in his same business.
~ Will Rogers, Quoted in Criswell Freeman The Wisdom of the West (1997).
In a real estate man's eye, the most exclusive part of the city is wherever he has a house to sell.
~ Will Rogers
The movies are the only business where you can go out front and applaud yourself.
~ Will Rogers
When you figure it right down, none of us are in a really essential business but the farmer, and he raises so much that even his business is partly non-essential.
~ Will Rogers
A person does not build a business; a person builds an organization.
~ William Rosenberg
Always provide your customers with the finest quality, service, cleanliness and value.
~ William Rosenberg
They [leaders] must also possess empathy, common sense, devotion, dedication, persistence, the ability to communicate, teach and pass on to others, and always remember the customer is the boss for they have the discretion where to spend their money amongst the multitude of competitors vying for it.
~ William Rosenberg
Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.
~ William D. Ruckelshaus, Business Week (June 1990).
Success can only be one ingredient in happiness, and is too dearly purchased if all other ingredients have been sacrificed to obtain it.
~ Bertrand Arthur William Russell, The Conquest of Happiness (1930). Competition
The CEO era gave rise to the CFO (not certified flying object, as you might imagine, but chief financial offier) and, most recently, the CIO, chief investment officer, a nice boost for the bookkeeper you can't afford to give a raise. . . .
~ William L. Safire
Finance is the art of passing currency from hand to hand until it finally disappears.
~ Robert William Sarnoff
I never made a damn thing out of it.
~ William Henry "Burro" Schmidt, (c. 1938).
Has this fellow no feeling of his business?
~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act V, scene i
I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you.
~ William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice. Act I, scene iii
Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part III. Act II, scene v
It was a gentle business, and becoming
The action of good women: there is hope
All will be well.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII. Act II, scene iii
Methinks the truth should live from age to age,
As 'twere retail'd to all posterity,
Even to the general all-ending day.
~ William Shakespeare, King Richard III. Act III, scene i
Sell when you can: you are not for all markets.
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Take heed, be wary how you place your words;
Talk like the vulgar sort of market men
That come to gather money for their corn.
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part I. Act III, scene ii
That smooth-fac'd gentleman, tickling Commodity,
Commodity, the bias of the world.
~ William Shakespeare, King John
To business that we love we rise betime,
And go to 't with delight.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act IV, scene iv
At a football club, there's a holy trinity -- the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don't come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques.
~ Bill Shankly (on boardroom meetings)
There isn't one senior manager in this company who hasn't been associated with a product that flopped.
~ William Smithburg
Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman -- not the attitude of the prospect.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone
A dinner lubricates business.
~ William Scott, 1st Baron Stowell, quoted in Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson (1835)
Human status ought not to depend upon the changing demands of the economic process.
~ William Temple (archbishop)
Business first; pleasure afterwards.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring (1854). Chapter 1: Shows How The Royal Family Sat Down To Breakfast
The most direct route to the American mind was through the nation's great agencies of mass communication.
~ William L. Van Deburg, in Hollywood As Mirror: Changing Views of "Outsiders" and "Enemies" in American Movies (1993). A Popular Culture Prophecy: Black American Slavery in Film
Such is American business, I guess, where the desire for obscene profit mutes any discussion of conscience.
~ Bill Watterson, Speech at Kenyon College Commencement, Gambier, Ohio (20 May 1990). Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled
To make a business decision, you don't need much philosophy; all you need is greed, and maybe a little knowledge of how the game works.
~ Bill Watterson, Speech at Kenyon College Commencement, Gambier, Ohio (20 May 1990). Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled
You haven't knocked me out of the box yet. I was not a competitor for this job. I disclosed everything that I thought would be a possible issue. I believe I acted honorably.
~ Judge William H. Webster (of his selection by the Securities and Exchange Commission to head a new board overseeing the accounting profession), in The New York Times (31 October 2002). Pitt Under Fire for Not Telling All He Knew About Webster
Smell that! That's gasoline you smell in there. You can't buy any perfume in the world that smells as sweet.
~ William K. Whiteford, in Forbes magazine (1 May 1964).
Commercial society regards people as bundles of appetites, a conception that turns human beings inside out, leaving nothing to be regarded as inherently private. Commercial society finds unintelligible the idea that anything -- an emotion, activity, or product -- is too "intimately personal" for uninhibited commercial treatment.
~ George Will (in 1975), Quoted in The New York Public Library: Book of Twentieth-Century American Quotations (1992).
The very best time to overcome any sales objection is before it is actually raised, i.e., by anticipation.
~ Alan Williams, All About Selling (1983).
Revolve your world around the customer and more customers will revolve around you.
~ Heather Williams
I learned through experience there are four steps in marketing a successful product, and they are:
~ John M. Williams, Speech at "2001: A Technology Odyssey" conference (3 August 2001). Finding New Markets for Products for Blind and Visually Impaired People
I am proud to serve as the NCA's first chairwoman. NCA will continue to act as a facilitator of innovative strategies in a truly global industry.
~ Mary Williams, Reuters (7 March 2002). RPT-Starbucks exec becomes first chairwoman of NCA Board
What breaks capitalism, all that will ever break capitalism, is capitalists. The faster they run the more strain on their heart.
~ Raymond Williams, Loyalties (1985).
Myriads of counter processions
crossing and recrossing, regaining
the advantage, buying here, selling there
-- You are sold cheap everywhere in town!
~ William Carlos Williams, from Sour Grapes (1921). Romance Moderne
Whenever you pray, make sure you do it at school assemblies and football games, like the demonstrative creatures who pray before large television audiences. That is the real goal of the thing. But do not, I urge you, pray all alone in your home where no one can see. That does not get you ratings.
~ Garry Wills, The Baltimore Sun (22 November 1994).
If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
~ Earl Wilson
Negotiations? Yes. Unconditional acceptance of whatever terms are offered us? No.
~ Harold Wilson
The Monarchy is a labour-intensive industry.
~ Harold Wilson, in Observer (13 February 1977).
Customers buy for their reasons, not yours.
~ Orvel Ray Wilson
Conditions make the agitators; the agitators do not make conditions.
~ William Bauchop Wilson, quoted in W.B. Wilson and the Department of Labor (1919). Chapter X: Business Cycles
Every business man admits, that his security for men's conduct must be found in their self-interest.
~ William Withington, The Growth of Thought: As Affecting the Progress of Society (1851).
When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.
~ William Wrigley, Jr.
The only business of the head in the world is to bow a ceaseless obeisance to the heart.
~ William Butler Yeats
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A Collection of Quotes Based on the Name William