Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.

It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.

This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn't matter whether you're a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast, or a bridge player.

In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count, like customer satisfaction and performance ... you thrive on that.

Of my mental cycles, I devote maybe 10 percent to business thinking. Business isn't that complicated. I wouldn't want to put it on my business card.

Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world ... if you do so, you are insulting yourself.

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next 10. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.

Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.

If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions, they will be moved to act.

Whether it's Google or Apple or free software, we've got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes.

To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.

Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning.

A bad strategy will fail no matter how good your information is, and lame execution will stymie a good strategy. If you do enough things poorly, you will go out of business.

Business people need to shake off the notion that information is hard to get.

Only a few businesses will succeed by having the lowest price, so most will need a strategy that includes customer services.

Customers want high quality at low prices and they want it now.

A company's ability to respond to an unplanned event, good or bad, is a prime indicator of its ability to compete.

Reward worthy failure - experimentation.

There are 12 million illegal immigrants in this country - drawing welfare benefits, sending their children to public schools, and pushing down wages for American workers - but the problem extends well beyond amnesty and open borders.

The Swedish government needs to understand that relations in the Middle East are more complicated than a piece of furniture from IKEA that you assemble at home.

When we break bread and give it to each other fear vanishes and God becomes very close.

It takes just a few seconds to say hello, but it takes forever to say goodbye.

Incredible things can be done simply if we are committed to making them happen.

You have to create tension between reality and aspiration.

I come from a long line of people who express themselves through the dance. I come from a long line of people who create music through their feet.

When people come to see my stand-up, they get a chance to see my characters interact with each other.

Saying you only want to hear a DJ play one genre of music is like going to a restaurant saying you only want to eat cheese.

When state funding for Irvine public schools began to diminish some time ago, my Irvine Company colleagues helped me to provide private funding support for continuation of basic science, art and music programs that had been eliminated by lack of state funding.

I always wanted my work to speak for itself, and have opportunities to do interesting work and not just puff pieces.

We all bullet point our triumphs, but I am who I am because of everything you don't see on my CV. The stuff that doesn't work out teaches you how to trust your instincts and adapt.

The only lasting trauma is the one we suffer without positive change.

Writing is finally play, and there's no reason why you should get paid for playing.

My idea of beauty is somebody that doesn't have to try too much, someone who is effortless and fresh.

I know there are some actors who won't switch their accents off when they're on set and like to be called by their character's names. That works for them, and that's great.

I've always tried to do my very best, and I want to be the very best age, whatever age I am.

The trouble with telling a good story is that it invariably reminds the other fellow of a dull one.

No place is ever as bad as they tell you it’s going to be.

What happened yesterday, no longer matters. Today is another day. Get back on the right track and move closer to your dreams. Yes you can do it.

Donald Westlake's lean prose and deadpan delivery are engaging, as always.

If drinking is interfering with your work, you're probably a heavy drinker. If work is interfering with your drinking, you're probably an alcoholic.

I actually prefer soothing music - and maybe that's the skater in me.

Make sure you meet the right people, people who know that industry and are willing to help you. Do your homework - read books about the industry, talk to people. If you don't know something, ask.