When it comes to success, there’s no shortage of entrepreneurial minds pioneering the way. Whether it’s blazing a new path or taking calculated risks and capitalizing on opportunities, entrepreneurs are admired for their tenacity and ambition.
In honor of inspiring enterprising individuals, here are 150+ quotes from renowned businessmen and businesswomen on the journey that is entrepreneurship.
From the wisdom of Henry Ford to Steve Jobs’ curiosity about life, here is a collection of words for you to reflect upon.
150+ Motivational Quotes, Sayings & Captions About Entrepreneurship
- The best way to predict the future is to create it. – Peter Drucker
- When you are building a startup, it’s difficult. Particularly, a startup that is expanding at the rate of Tinder. You have to give 100%, and you have to be committed. Solving the problem has to be personal or else you’re going to disintegrate. – Sean Rad
- In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination. – Steve Case
- An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it. – Roy Ash
- The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall. –Vince Lombardi
- To escape fear, you have to go through it, not around it. – Richie Norton
- This defines entrepreneur and entrepreneurship – the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. – Peter F. Drucker
- Knowledge without action is meaningless. – Abu Bakr
- Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. – Theodore Roosevelt
- Being an entrepreneur is a mindset. You have to see things as opportunities all the time. I like to do interviews. I like to push people on certain topics. I like to dig into stories where there’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer. – Soledad O’Brien
- Winners never quit and quitters never win. – Vince Lombardi
- One of the greatest skills of leadership is being unflappable. Anytime you do anything in the world; there’s going to be criticism. – Arianna Huffington
- The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be. – Reid Hoffman
- Be the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
- Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand. -Oprah Winfrey
- Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. -Jaachynma N.E. Agu
- Success in life is not for those who run fast, but for those who keep running and are always on the move. – Bangambiki Habyarimana
- Don’t risk more than you can afford to lose! –The Backroads Bosslady
- I don’t know the word ‘quit.’ Either I never did, or I have abolished it. – Susan Butcher
- 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. – Reshma Saujani
- Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. – Steve Jobs
- If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution to a problem in your own life. – Brian Chesky
- When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say ‘wow, that was an adventure,’ not ‘wow, I sure felt safe.’ – Tom Preston-Werner
- Be so good they can’t ignore you. – Steve Martin
- Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. – Jim Rohn
- Money is always eager and ready to work for anyone who is ready to employ it. – Idowu Koyenikan
- The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. – Nolan Bushnell
- Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value. – Albert Einstein
- I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. – G.K. Chesterton
- Honesty and integrity are by far the most important assets of an entrepreneur. – Zig Ziglar
- My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had – every day I’m learning something new. – Richard Branson
- In the age of transparency, honesty, and generosity, even in the form of an apology, generate goodwill. – Alexander Asseily
- The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something. –Seth Godin
- The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with dust and sweat; who strives valiantly, who errs and may fall again and again because there is no effort without error or shortcoming. – Theodore Roosevelt
- Whatever you do, be different – that was the advice my mother gave me, and I can’t think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If you’re different, you will stand out. – Anita Roddick
- When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work – the most you will make is 5 dollars. – Idowu Koyenikan
- If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. – Milton Berle
- Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. – Warren Buffett
- 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
- Being an entrepreneur is my dream job, as it tests ones tenacity. – Gautam Adani
- 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
- If you can offer a free tier that provides a lot of value, it will naturally help your product to spread much more rapidly. – Melanie Perkins
- An entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and wants to create. – David Karp
- The Team! The Team! The Team! – Bo Schembechler
- It doesn’t matter how many times you have failed. You only have to be right once. – Mark Cuban
- You have to work on the business first before it works for you. – Idowu Koyenikan
- The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
- Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once. – Drew Houston
- Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. – Henry David Thoreau
- In the journey of an entrepreneur, the most important thing is self-belief and the ability to convert that belief into reality. – Mukesh Ambani
- It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. – Bill Gates
- Don’t get distracted. Never tell yourself that you need to be the biggest brand in the whole world. Start by working on what you need at the present moment and then what you need to do tomorrow. So, set yourself manageable targets. – Jas Bagniewski
- When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue. – Josh James
- There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others. – Mandy Hale
- Don’t try to have it all. Aim for what matters most and what you’re willing to consistently work for. Don’t judge yourself and don’t judge others. Help other women lift each other up. – Jessica Herrin
- People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe. – Simon Sinek
- Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it, and eventually, the confidence will follow. – Carrie Fisher
- A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. – John A. Shedd
- It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. – Warren Buffett
- First of all, I would make about 80% of the people law-abiding citizens again. The policy which is carried out now makes every entrepreneur and businessman a thief against his own will. – Aleksandr Lebed
- 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
- Don’t let others convince you that the idea is good when your gut tells you it’s bad. –Kevin Rose
- Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. – Mary Kay Ash
- Don’t worry about being successful but work toward being significant and success will naturally follow. – Oprah Winfrey
- When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. – Henry Ford
- The type of person you are is usually reflected in your business. To improve your business, first, improve yourself. – Idowu Koyenikan
- Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start. – Simon Sinek
- 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
- Every problem is a gift – without problems, we would not grow. – Anthony Robbins
- I’ve been an entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the cryptocurrency industry for a long time, working on numerous projects. – Brock Pierce
- One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don’t choose your passions; your passions choose you. – Jeff Bezos
- Success depends on employees. For me knowing and connecting with my employees is very important. – Divine Ndhlukula
- Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right. – Henry Ford
- Tough times never last, but tough people do. – Robert H. Schuller
- The thing that motivates me is a very common form of motivation. And that is, with other folks counting on me, it’s so easy to be motivated. – Jeff Bezos
- Don’t blow off another’s candle for it won’t make yours shine brighter. – Jaachynma N.E. Agu
- If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking a risk, really amazing things can happen. – Marissa Mayer
- Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail. – Confucius
- Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming. – Richard Branson
- Many people dream about being an entrepreneur, starting their own businesses, working for themselves, and living the good life. Very few, however, will actually take the plunge and put everything they’ve got into being their own boss. – Fabrizio Moreira
- I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. – Thomas Edison
- You have to see failure as the beginning and the middle, but never entertain it as an end. – Jessica Herrin
- 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
- Our chief want in life is someone who shall make us do what we can. This is the service of a friend. With him, we are easily great. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. – Walt Disney
- If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right. – Henry Ford
- You have to believe it before you see it. – Jeremiah Say
- Play by the rules, but be ferocious. – Phil Knight
- A person who sees a problem is a human being; a person who finds a solution is a visionary; and the person who goes out and does something about it is an entrepreneur. – Naveen Jain
- Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. – Albert Einstein
- Only the paranoid survive. – Andy Grove
- 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
- Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill
- The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard. – Guy Kawasaki
- Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. – Sam Levenson
- The best way to predict the future is to create it. – Peter Drucker
- Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs
- Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you. – Tony Hsieh
- Don’t worry about being successful but work toward being significant and the success will naturally follow. – Oprah Winfrey
- The only way to do great work is to love what you do. – Steve Jobs
- Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that. – Anthony Volodkin
- It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. – Scott Belsky
- The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. – Mahatma Gandhi
- I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. – Thomas Edison
- In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. – Bill Cosby
- 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
- I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. – Stephen Covey
- Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy. – Nancy, Anatasi
- Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. – Eric Thomas
- Believe you can and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt
- I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear. – Rosa Parks
- Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill
- The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. – Steve Jobs
- Successful entrepreneurs are willing to face their fears and do what others won’t. – Jen Groover
- If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs. – Tony A. Gaskins Jr.
- Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. – Sam Levenson
- You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. – Richard Branson
- Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who see opportunities others don’t. – Nolan Bushnell
- The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. – Eleanor Roosevelt
- The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks. – Mark Zuckerberg
- If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business. – Ray Kroc
- It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. – Scott Belsky
- You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. – Henry Ford
- The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. – Nolan Bushnell
- The only way to do great work is to love what you do. – Steve Jobs
- Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs
- The biggest challenge in business is not competition, but rather bad management. – Jack Ma
- The best way to predict the future is to create it. – Peter Drucker
- Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers. – Seth Godin
- A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. – Henry Ford
- The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
- The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. – Chinese Proverb
- Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. – George S. Patton
- When you’re finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all those differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend and you’re going to get a concept that maybe this is really one world and why the hell can’t we learn to live together like decent people. – Buzz Aldrin
- The cost of starting a business is minimal, but the cost of not starting one is enormous. – Mark Cuban
- 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
- The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers. – Shiv Singh
- The best thing a human being can do is to help another human being know more. – Charlie Rose
- The best way to do something is to be the one doing it. – Diane Keaton
- I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams. – Oprah Winfrey
- Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy. – Naveen Jain
- It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin
- Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill
- All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. – Walt Disney
- People don’t take opportunities because the timing is bad, and the financial side is insecure. Too many people are overanalyzing. Sometimes you just have to go for it. –Michelle Zatlyn
- Rejection is an opportunity for your selection. – Bernard Branson
- I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from non-successful ones is pure perseverance. – Steve Jobs
- Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you. – Tony Hsieh
- Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that count. – Winston Churchill
- The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. – Peter Drucker
After pouring over numerous quotes about entrepreneurs, it’s clear that successful business owners are hungry risk-takers, resilient problem solvers, and passionate leaders. These indomitable personalities ensure that they stay ahead of the competition while still looking out for those around them.
Despite the hard work, long hours, and sometimes unending stress, these people know success will follow and are determined to achieve their goals no matter what it takes – an impressive trait to have in this fiercely competitive world.
Looking at business owners as a whole, it’s pretty clear that without an entrepreneurial spirit, you won’t make it far in the business world.