A while back, I did a post of quotations that inspired me as I built my career. It stimulated a lot of attention and feedback. So, here, in time for the holidays, is part 2 of Words to Entrepreneur By. These are quotes that readers and friends have suggested, or that I have come across in the time since the original post.
“Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.” - Bruce Lee
“They always say time changes things. But you have to change them yourself.” - Andy Warhol
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston S. Churchill
“You can waste your life drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.” - Shonda Rhimes
“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” - Herman Melville
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” - Henry David Thoreau
“Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” - John D. Rockefeller
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” - Thomas Jefferson
“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” - Ray Goforth
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better.” - Jim Rohn
“Done is better than perfect.” - Sheryl Sandberg
“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
“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success.” - Thomas J. Watson
“If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” - Steve Jobs
“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
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” - Helen Keller
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” - Walt Disney
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.” - Conrad Hilton
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
“If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.” - Jim Rohn
“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--It is: Try to please everybody.” - Herbert Bayard Swope
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” - Albert Schweitzer
“You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” - Tina Fey
“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.” - John Lennon