175 Business Motivational Quotes About Massive Success

I was looking all over the internet for business motivational quotes and I couldn’t find any…so this post came to life!

As you know, starting a business is not easy and being successful is even more difficult.

Many of us have dreams of business, entrepreneurship and financial freedom but the road to get there can be arduous, and will surely test every part of you.

Still, it’s a journey worth taking and a goal worth fighting for.

We only live once, and if you’re up for it…let’s see what you’re capable of in the business world.

Here are some common yet necessary questions you must ask yourself at the start of your business journey:

Why is a business so important to you in the first place?

What need can you meet?

What are you already really good at?

What excites you?

What does the world need more of?

To inspire you towards achieving your own success, below is our collection of inspirational, wise, and thought-provoking business motivational quotes, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

We hope you enjoy these motivational business quotes that can serve as daily mantras for perseverance, vision and faith!

For more inspiration, don’t forget to also read our collection of quotes about marketing to boost your business.

If you love this quote collection, read out our most popular quote article about short inspirational quotes for daily motivation. 

If you need more inspirational quotes, check out our motivational quotes category page.

Business motivational quotes to inspire success

1. “It is difficult, but not impossible, to conduct strictly honest business.” – Mahatma Gandhi

You will also enjoy our article on motivational work quotes.

2. “Carpe per diem – seize the check.” – Robin Williams

You will also enjoy our article on opportunity quotes.

3. “See things in the present, even if they are in the future.” — Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle

You will also enjoy our article on support quotes

4. “Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” – Coco Chanel (see more Coco Chanel quotes)

You will also enjoy our article on motivational.

5. “You don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea.” — Larry Page, co-founder of Google

6. There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.” – Seth Godin

7. “My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people’s.” – Oscar Wilde

8. “Ideas are commodity. Execution of them is not.” — Michael Dell

You will also enjoy our article on empowering quotes.

Motivational business quotes to help you think big and execute bigger!

9. “In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination.” — Steve Case, co-founder of AOL

You will also enjoy our article on motivational quotes about success.

10. Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.” – Zig Ziglar

You will also enjoy our article on finish strong quotes.

11. “Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.” – Henry Ford

12. “Simple, genuine goodness is the best capital to found the business of this life upon. It lasts when fame and money fail and is the only riches we can take out of this world with us.”― Louisa May Alcott

13. “For every sale you miss because you’re too enthusiastic, you will miss a hundred because you’re not enthusiastic enough.” – Zig Ziglar

Also, check out these powerful sales quotes for landing your next big sale.

Business motivational quotes you should know

14. And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.” – Andrew Carnegie

You will also enjoy our article on Jack Ma quotes.

15. Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” – Jack Welch

16. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford

If you’re enjoying these quotes, read our collection of Henry Ford quotes from one of America’s greatest pioneers.

17. “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.” – Norman Schwarzkopf

You will also enjoy our article on collaboration quotes.

18. “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter F. Drucker

19. “A person who is quietly confident makes the best leader.” — Fred Wilson

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of quotes by famous people to hear ideas from some of pop cultures current stars.

Motivational business quotes for entrepreneurs

20. “If you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business.” – B. C. Forbes

You will also enjoy our article on Boss Lady quotes.

21. “Talent can be hired, money has to be earned. ” – Vishnu

You will also enjoy our article on John D Rockefeller Quotes.

22. “To succeed in business it is necessary to make others see things as you see them.” – John H. Patterson

You will also enjoy our article on internet quotes.

23. “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” — Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks

24. Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.” – Earl Nightingale

25. “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” – Steve Jobs

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of innovation quotes that will inspire you to find new successes by trying new things.

Business motivational quotes to inspire you

26. “Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.” – Sigmund Freud

27. “Every problem is a gift — without problems we would not grow.” – Anthony Robbins

28. “The essence of a successful business is really quite simple. It is your ability to offer a product or service that people will pay for at a price sufficiently above your costs, ideally three or four or five times your cost, thereby giving you a profit that enables you to buy and to offer more products and services.” ― Brian Tracy

Business motivational quotes to inspire your next idea

29. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot

30. “Good brands reflect the histories of the time and the group of people that made them. They can not be copied. They can not be recycled.” ― Richard Branson

31. “It’s very easy to be different but very difficult to be better.” – Jonathan Ive

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of Grant Cardone quotes from his books and presentations.

Business motivational quotes to boost you

32. “The only way you are going to have success is to have lots of failures first.” – Sergey Brin

33. “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” ― Peter F. Drucker

Business motivational quotes that will aid you today

34. “If you can dream it, you can do it.” — Walt Disney

35. “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson

36. “Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki

37. “Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.” — Napoleon Hill

38. “Creative without strategy is called art. Creative with strategy is called advertising.” – Jeff I. Richards

39. “You only have to do a few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.” – Warren Buffett

40. “Good ideas come from bad ideas, but only if there are enough of them.” – Seth Godin

41. “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anaïs Nin

42. “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” — Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn

43. “I don’t know the word ‘quit.’ Either I never did, or I have abolished it.” – Susan Butcher

44. “Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.” — Jack Dorsey

Don’t forget to also read out the handpicked collection of Monday motivation quotes to start your week off on the right track.

Business motivational quotes to make your workday

45. “Always deliver more than expected.” — Larry Page, co-founder of Google

46. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” — Bill Gates

47. “The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.”— Colin R. Davis

48. “Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.”— Tony Hsieh

49. “Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.” — Anthony Volodkin, founder of Hype Machine

50. “Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” — Golda Meir

51. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

52. “Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.”— Robert Kiyosaki

53. “The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” — Thomas Edison

54. “Outstanding people have one thing in common: An absolute sense of mission.” – Zig Ziglar

If you’re enjoying this article, make sure to also check out these achievement quotes to motivate you for massive success.

More business motivational quotes and sayings

55. “If you can dream it, then you can achieve it. You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

56. “You become what you think about.” – Napoleon Hill

57. “Where we fall are the stepping-stones for our journey.” – Lolly Daskal

58. “Success seems to be connected to action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton

59. “A business becomes successful when it becomes mutually beneficial for you and your customers.” – Pooja Agnihotri

60. “The beauty of the business is, you don’t need to think about the eligibility.” – Zahirul M Islam

61. “The continuation of success depends on greediness, patience, and dissatisfaction.” – Dhirendra Pandey

62. “Great experience is made up of challenges.” – Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel

63. “If everything is a priority, nothing is.” – Yuri van der Sluis

64. The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” – Peter Drucker

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of motivational quotes for employees about the power of a great team.

Thought-provoking business motivational quotes

65. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell

66. “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.” – Harold S. Geneen

67. “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.” – Thomas A. Edison

68. “An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” – Jack Welch

69. “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” – Henry Ford

70. “Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure it just means you haven’t succeeded yet.” – Robert H. Schuller

71. “It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” – Tom Brokaw

72. “All lasting business is built on friendship.” – Alfred A. Montapert

73. “Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss.” – Lee Iacocca

74. “Word of mouth is the best medium of all.” – William Bernbach

75. “Great companies are built on great products.” – Elon Musk

Encouraging business motivational quotes

76.  “Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don’t tell.” – Lisa Stone

77. “It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” – Scott Belsky

78. “There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.” – Jason Fried

79. “Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen.” – Wayne Huizenga

80. “Don’t play games that you don’t understand, even if you see lots of other people making money from them.” – Tony Hsieh

81. “It’s more effective to do something valuable than to hope a logo or name will say it for you.” – Jason Cohen

82. “Don’t worry about funding if you don’t need it. Today it’s cheaper to start a business than ever.” – Noah Everett

83.  – “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” – Reid Hoffman

84. “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair

85. “Someday is not a day of the week.” – Janet Dailey

86. “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb

Business motivational quotes that may surprise you

87. “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” –Sam Walton

88. “If you’re trying to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” -Elon Musk

89. “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” –Dale Carnegie

90. “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” -Peter Drucker

91. “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.” –Jeff Bezos

92. “Details create the big picture.” -Sanford I. Weill

93. “A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” -Mary Kay Ash

94. “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” -Arnold H. Glasgow

95. “An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.” -Dee Hock

96. “Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.” -W. Edwards Deming

Business Motivational Quotes To Be Keen On

97. “An entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create.” — David Karp

98. “Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.” — Biz Stone

99. “Fortunes are built during the down market and collected in the upmarket.” — Jason Calacanis

100. “All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA.” — Reid Hoffman

101. “No more romanticizing about how cool it is to be an entrepreneur. It’s a struggle to save your company’s life – and your own skin – every day of the week.” — Spencer Fry

102. “Every day that we spent not improving our products was a wasted day.” — Joel Spolsky

103. “Anything that is measured and watched, improves.” — Bob Parsons

104. “Stay self-funded as long as possible.” — Garrett Camp

105. “Get a mentor in the applicable field if you’re at all unsure of what you’re looking for.” — Kyle Bragger

106. “Best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.” — Michael Arrington

Business Motivational Quotes To Ignite Your Spirits

107. “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” — Madam C.J. Walker

108. “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” — Dhirubhai Ambani

109. “You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.” — Steve Jobs

110. “Dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.” — Shonda Rhimes

111. “Do what you love and success will follow. Passion is the fuel behind a successful career.” — Meg Whitman

112. “Don’t worry about failure. You only have to be right once.” — Drew Houston

113. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney

114. “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” — Henry Ford

115. “Don’t ever make decisions based on fear. Make decisions based on hope and possibility. Make decisions based on what should happen, not what shouldn’t.” — Michelle Obama

116. “You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there.” — Venus Williams

Make sure to also check out these motivational quotes of the day for daily rejuvenation.

Business Motivational Quotes To Motivate Hard Work

117. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela

118. “If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” — Jim Rohn

119. “Nothing works better than just improving your product.” — Joel Spolsky

120. “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” — Joshua J. Marine

121. “When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue.” — Josh James

122. “There is no substitute for hard work.” — Thomas Edison

123. “Get big quietly, so you don’t tip off potential competitors.” — Chris Dixon

124. “No great achiever – even those who made it seem easy – ever succeeded without hard work.” — Jonathan Sacks

125. “If you define yourself by how you differ from the competition, you’re probably in trouble.” — Omar Hamoui

126. “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” — Herman Melville

Business Motivation Quotes To Maintain Profits

127. “The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.” — Tom Peters

128. “We must intertwine business and ethics in a very fundamental way.” — Robert Bruner

129. If you can build a business up big enough, it’s respectable.” — Will Rogers

130. It is the interest of the commercial world that wealth should be found everywhere.” — Edmund Burke

131. “Showing a profit means touching something and leaving it better than you found it.” — Jim Rohn

132. “Businessmen must move with the times…the correlation between knowledge and business as the key to success is closer than ever.” — Li Ka-shing

133. “In the world of money and investing, you must learn to control your emotions.” — Robert Kiyosaki

134. The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.” — Milton Friedman

135. “The farmer and manufacturer can no more live without profit than the labourer without wages.” — David Ricardo

136. “Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.” — Henry R. Luce

Business Motivational Quotes To Keep In Mind

137. “I got lucky because I never gave up the search. Are you quitting too soon? Or are you willing to pursue luck with a vengeance too?” — Jill Konrath

138. “Take risks. Failure is a stepping stone to success.” — Arianna Huffington

139.  “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” — Henry Ford

140. “If you want to grow you have to do something different from the majority of people.” — Lakshmi Mittal

141. “The road to success is always under construction.” — Lily Tomlin

142. “If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking risk, really amazing things can happen.” — Marissa Mayer

143. “In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.” — Warren Buffett

144. “I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.” — Estée Lauder

145. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

146. “The real test is not whether you avoid this failure because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.” — Barack Obama

Business Motivational Quotes To Keep Your Fire Ignited

147. “The type of person you are is usually reflected in your business. To improve your business, first improve yourself.” ― Idowu Koyenikan

148. “You don’t build a business. You build people and people build the business.” — Zig Ziglar

149. “The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.” — Aristotle Onassis

150. “To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.” — Thomas Watson

151. “You have to work on the business first before it works for you.” ― Idowu Koyenikan

152. “If people like you they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you they’ll do business with you.” — Zig Ziglar

153. “There’s no luck in business. There’s only drive, determination, and more drive.”

― Sophie Kinsella

154. “Business is a game, played for fantastic stakes, and you’re in competition with experts. If you want to win, you have to learn to be a master of the game.” ― Sidney Sheldon

155. “I used to use business to make money. But I’ve learned that business is a tool. You can use it to support what you believe in.” ― Po Bronson

156. “Make sure your business is creating a service experience so good that it demands loyalty.” ― Steve Maraboli

Business Motivational Quotes to Ignite Your Ambition

157. “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. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” — Steve Jobs

158. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill

159. “Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” — Bo Bennett

160. The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

161. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau

162. “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” — Richard Branson

163. “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” — Steve Jobs

164. “The best investment you can make is in yourself.” — Warren Buffett

165. I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” — Thomas Jefferson

166. Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Business Motivational  Quotes to Drive Growth and Innovation

167. The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” — Bruce Lee

168. The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” — Vince Lombardi

169. “To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all that is possible to know about that business.” — J. Paul Getty

170. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” — Vince Lombardi

171. “Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” — Arnold H. Glasow

172. “Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” — Roger Crawford

173. “The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions.” — John Hancock

174. “Achievement is talent plus preparation.” — Malcolm Gladwell

175. “Comfort is the enemy of achievement.” — Farrah Gray

Which of these business motivational quotes was your favorite?

There’s nothing more refreshing than reading inspirational quotes from business leaders to help you keep moving forward.

We hope the motivational business quotes above will help you think big and execute bigger!

Remember, everyone must start somewhere, and the hardest part is commitment.

But in the end, once success is achieved, you’ll be overjoyed that you committed to yourself and your dream to succeed.

Did you enjoy these business motivational quotes?

Which of the quotes was your favorite?

Let us know in the comment section below.