50 quotes for entrepreneurs to live by
Many of the other “best entrepreneur quotes” roundups are a bit out of date, with quotes from the likes of Bill Cosby. We decided it was time for a refresh on entrepreneurship quotes in the Age of AI. In no particular order, here’s our list of 50 inspirational quotes for entrepreneurial people, which we define as founders, solopreneurs, the entreprecurious, and agents of change.
- “The most successful entrepreneurs I know are optimistic. It’s part of the job description.” – Caterina Fake, cofounder of Flickr, investor
2. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes — understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” — Arianna Huffington, co-Founder, Huffington Post
3. “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
4. “And as for me, lately I’ve been focusing less on doing what they say I can’t do and more on doing whatever the hell I want”. — Taylor Swift
5. “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” — Henry Ford
6. “It’s important to be willing to make mistakes. The worst thing that can happen is you become memorable.” – Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx and Sneex
7. “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” – Madam C.J. Walker, founder, Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, and the first female self-made millionaire in America
8. “Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally. It comes from what you do consistently.” — Marie Forleo, entrepreneur, writer, and philanthropist
9. “I wake up every morning and think to myself, ‘How far can I push the company forward in the next 24 hours?’” – Leah Busque, founder and CEO of TaskRabbit
10. “Whatever it is that you think you want to do, and whatever it is that you think stands between you and that, stop making excuses. You can do anything.” – Katia Beauchamp, co-founder and CEO of Birchbox
11. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” — Michael Jordan, professional basketball player
12. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” — Coco Chanel, Founder of Chanel
13. “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” — Serena Williams, former professional tennis player and founder, Serena Ventures
14. “The difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves.” — Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group
15. “Life-fulfilling work is never about the money — when you feel true passion for something, you instinctively find ways to nurture it.” — Eileen Fisher, founder of Eileen Fisher
16. “Build your business success around something that you love — something that is inherently and endlessly interesting to you.” — Martha Stewart
17. “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
18. “I’m tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, OK.” — Madonna
19. “I want every little girl who’s been told she’s bossy to be told again she has leadership skills.” — Sheryl Sandberg
20. “I like to say it’s an attitude of not just thinking outside the box, but not even seeing the box.” — Ursula Burns, former CEO of Xerox
21. “I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow.” — Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo
22. “Invite people into your life that don’t look or think like you.” — Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments
23. “There’s one thing that is guaranteed to increase your feelings of control over your life: a bias toward action.” — Mel Robbins
24. “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.” — Simon Sinek
25. “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” — Madeleine Albright
26. “Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.” — Hillary Clinton
27. “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman.” — Melinda Gates
28. “I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” — Maya Angelou
29. “Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.” — Kendra Scott, founder of Kendra Scott Jewelry
30. “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” — Alice Walker
31. “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” — Albert Einstein, physicist
32. “There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.” – Jason Fried, cofounder and CEO of 37signals
33. “I’d rather regret the risks that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.” — Simone Biles, Olympic gymnast
34. “Ignore the glass ceiling and do your work. If you’re focusing on the glass ceiling, focusing on what you don’t have, focusing on the limitations, then you will be limited.” — Ava DuVernay
35. “Bring your whole self to the experience. Because the more we do that, the more that people get to see that, the more comfortable everybody’s gonna be with it.” — Bozoma St. John
36. “If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” — Dolly Parton
37. “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” – Tony Robbins
38. “Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.” – Tony Hsieh, former founder and CEO, Zappos
39. “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” – Reid Hoffman, cofounder, Linkedin
40. There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them. – Seth Godin
41. “You have to have insane confidence in yourself, even if it’s not real. You need to be your own cheerleader now, because there isn’t a room full of people waiting with pom‑poms to tell you, ‘You did it! We’ve been waiting all this time for you to succeed!’” — Mindy Kaling, actor, producer, director, comedian, and screenwriter.
42. “For one year, I would say ‘yes’ to all the things that scared me. Anything that made me nervous or took me out of my comfort zone, I’d say ‘yes.’ Public speaking? Yes. Acting? Yes. A crazy thing happened: The very act of doing the thing that scared me undid the fear.” — Shonda Rhimes, producer
43. “Great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it. Doing what you’re afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that — that’s what life is. You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that’s really special. And if you’re not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself.” — Amy Poehler, comedian
44. “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” — Andy Warhol
45. “I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and try to ignore the rest.” — Venus Williams, former professional tennis player
46. “The best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.” — Michael Arrington, cofounder, TechCrunch
47. “We led with our conviction rather than rational, because rational said it was impossible.” – Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO Spotify
48. “Everything I’ve achieved has come from perseverance. I’ve never met another entrepreneur who had a painless path to success — everyone who tries to bring new ideas to the world is tested. All aspiring entrepreneurs should remember that failure doesn’t mean the end of the road. It can lay the groundwork for something even greater.” — Reshma Saujani, Founder, Girls Who Code
49. “Trust your instincts.” — Estée Lauder, founder of Estée Lauder
50. “It’s very easy to be different but very difficult to be better.” — Jonathan Ive, founder, LoveFrom
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What are the top entrepreneurial skills in the Age of AI?
You may have seen lists of “must-have entrepreneurial skills” that includes vision, strong communication, grit, time management, and budgeting. That existing advice isn’t wrong — it’s just incomplete. In the age of AI, the question isn’t which skills entrepreneurs and go-getters need. It’s which skills still require a human.
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