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

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.

Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.

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.

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.

'Transformers' gives people the ability to relax and rest for three hours. That's a substantial amount of time, given how plugged in to our devices we are. People don't give themselves enough time to sit down. They're no longer comfortable with themselves.

I think the biggest mistake I made was this wretched ability to see both sides of an argument.

I started riding the whole 'fluffy' train, and it's a cute word and socially a lot more acceptable than someone saying is fat or obese. If you call a girl 'fat,' yo, she'll raise hell, but if you say, 'Aw girl, look at you, you're fluffy,' there's almost a sexy appeal to it.

For sheer majestic geography and sublime scale, nothing beats Alaska and the Yukon. For culture, Japan. And for all-around affection, Australia.

I endured quite a few injuries when I was younger and had my first surgery on my foot when I was 15. But I love dancing. 'Anna Karenina' was great for me as it meant I could combine the two and I actually went back and did some classes.

I am not a pig farmer. The pigs had a great time, but I didn't make any money.

I'm basically nocturnal.

I'm sick of giving creeps money off my soul.

Worried about being a dull fellow You might develop your talent for being irritating.

Japan's very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don't think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that's already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor.

If you meet your heroes, you're always going to be disappointed. Frederick Douglass was a great man, but would I want my daughter to marry him? Probably not. That doesn't mean that I don't think he's a great man.

Over and over I'm on the point of giving it up.

Only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are.

Wall Street is populated by a bunch of people whose primary goal is to make money, and the rules are pretty much caveat emptor.

In America there is a public library in every community. How many public libraries are there in Africa? Every day there are new books coming out and new ideas being discussed. But these new books and ideas don't reach Africa and we are being left behind.

Why write for the orchestra? For one thing it's a very challenging problem.

I love e-books. I can carry the complete works of William Shakespeare around with me all the time. Just think about that. Whether I'm on an airplane or wherever. Being able to have a library in your back pocket basically is something I support.

Being extremely honest with oneself is a good exercise.

To sing with Frank Sinatra in any capacity at all is overwhelming.

Golf is golf. You hit the ball you go find it. Then you hit it again.

We have a rich tradition here in the United States of great decathletes, which is amazing 'cause we have absolutely no program to develop these guys. Zero. There's nothing. They do it on their own, just like I did back in '76.

If my grandchildren were to look at me and say, 'You were aware species were disappearing and you did nothing, you said nothing', that I think is culpable. I don't know how much more they expect me to be doing, I'd better ask them.

Everybody need a partner to stand right by their side. Not only down for the good times. But also down through the bad times.

In lacrosse, the momentum changes so quick. Would we like to turn 3-0 into 6-0? Sure, but it's not realistic with the talent in this league. Teams are going to battle back.