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Quotes for Entrepreneurs April 2012
“To offer a man unsolicited advice is to presume that he doesn’t know what to do or that he can’t do it on his own.”
John Gray
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“Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.”
Bertrand Russell
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“You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.”
Edwin Louis Cole
Sometimes you have to make a move because staying where you are is less and less tenable. I used this again in June 2026 when my theme was initiative and agency. The website Coleisms lists 940 quotes by Cole, here are some I found directly applicable to challenges entrepreneurs face:
- “A man’s talent can take him where his character cannot sustain him.”
- “The lowest level of knowledge is assumption. Above that is knowledge, then understanding, then wisdom (which is applied knowledge), then skill and, finally, practice.”
- “Champions practice in private to succeed in public.”
- “Every man has three men to deal with: the man he thinks others see, the man he thinks he is and the man he really is.”
- “We are motivated to become what we imagine ourselves to be.”
- “Good salesmen never sell a product; they only help people meet their needs.”
- “The father’s responsibility is not to make the child’s decisions but to let the child observe the father’s decisions.”
- True also for leaders and founders, by sharing your view of the situation and reasons for your decisions you empower your team.
- “The pattern of the harvest: condition the soil, sow the seed, water it and reap the harvest.”
- “You don’t make a success in life by concentrating on your weaknesses but by going to your strengths.”
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“Just about every great, brave or beautiful thing in our culture was created by someone who didn’t do it for money.”
Seth Godin in “The Story of Money is Not a Straight Line“
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“The technology is nothing without the team.”
I remember reading this as a caption to an magazine ad more than a decade ago but I can no longer find the source. I used it as the title for “The Technology is Nothing Without the Team”
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“Silicon Valley generates innovation faster than anywhere else because it has no stigma for good-faith failure.”
Michael O. Church in “Fail fast” is not an excuse for being a moron, a flake, or a scumbag.
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“He that has never suffered adversity is but half acquainted with others, or with himself.”
Charles Caleb Colton
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“Worry isn’t work. Anxiety isn’t work. Entertaining a sense of impending doom isn’t work.”
Dan Pallotta in “Worry Isn’t Work“
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“The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.”
Alfred North Whitehead
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“Always choose to do what you will remember ten years from now.”
Richard A. Moran
See also “Nuts, Bolts, and Jolts by Richard Moran”
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“Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are.”
Jose Ortega y Gasset
Support for the Information Diet: “Healthy information consumption habits are about more than productivity and efficiency. They’re about your personal health, and the health of society. Just as junk food can lead to obesity, junk information can lead to new forms of ignorance. The Information Diet provides a framework for consuming information in a healthy way, by showing you what to look for, what to avoid, and how to be selective.”
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“This company is yours to steer–toward opportunities and away from risks.”
“We are all stewards of our long-term relationship with our customers.”
“Everyone is a designer. Everyone can question each other’s work.”
Quotes from Valve Company Handbook (first edition 2012)
See also “Four Excerpts From Valve’s Employee Handbook That Belong In Yours”
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“The key journalist of the future must be able to relate today’s event to yesterdays fact in a way that helps indicate tomorrows meaning.”
Edward Barrett
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“A hero is someone who, for the general good, takes the initiative to solve an ambiguous problem.”
James Bach “Why Software Projects Need Heroes“
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