65 Inspiring Business Quotes

The biggest challenge with starting a business is finding the right balance between risk and reward. There are a lot of risks that come with starting a business, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make sure that the business is successful. Additionally, it is important to make sure that your business is well-funded and a consistent way to make money to keep your business going.

The are 5.5 million small businesses in the UK and as a result each business owner always needs the motivation to keep going when times are hard. There is so much we can learn from CEOs of the past and the best entrepreneurs of today to help you navigate the challenging times when growing your business and truly achieve greatness.

Here you’ll be able to find 65 of the best quotes we can find to help you grow your business and touch on topics from different sources. Take time to go through each one and bookmark this page as a source of inspiration. 

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Quotes about staying motivated when running a business 

1. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius
2. “Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower
3. “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.” — Thomas A. Edison
4. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” — Steve Jobs
5. “There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team.”  — Jason Fried, 37signals Founder
6. “The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.” — Aristotle Onassis
7. “Play by the rules, but be ferocious.” – Phil Knight
8. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” — Mark Twain
9. “Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” — Robert H. Schuller
10. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” — Benjamin Franklin

Quotes about customer service 

1. "Don’t try to tell the customer what he wants. If you want to be smart, be smart in the shower. Then get out, go to work and serve the customer!" - Gene Buckley (Anna Segova)
2. "Assumptions are the termites of relationships." – Henry Winkler
3. "There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." - Sam Walton (Travis Biggert)
4. "Just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create raving fans." - Ken Blanchard (Mollie Beck)
5. "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - Bill Gates (Amanda Austin)
6. "Ease your customers’ pain." - Hazel Edwards
7. "Treat the customer like you would want to be treated. Period!" - Brad Schweig
8. "Excellent customer service is the number one job in any company! It is the personality of the company and the reason customers come back. Without customers, there is no company!" - Connie Edler
9. "The key is when a customer walks away, thinking, 'Wow, I love doing business with them, and I want to tell others about the experience.'" - Shep Hyken (Connor J. Wilson)
10. "People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." - Teddy Roosevelt (Paige Arnof-Fenn)

Quotes about starting and running a business 

1. "Be nicer to your customers than your competitors." -Richard Reed, Co-Founder of Innocent Drinks
2. "Remain self-funded as long as possible." -Garrett Camp, Co-founder of Uber, StumbleUpon, and Expa
3. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” — Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
4. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
5. “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!” – Henry Ford

Small business quotes about freedom 

1. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” - Charlotte Bronte
2. “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” - Mahatma Gandhi
3. “May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.” - Peter Marshall
4. “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
5. “We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” - William Faulkner

Small business quotes about family and friends 

1. “Tell me with whom you associate, and I will tell you who you are.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2. “A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.” -Colin Powell
3. “You’re the average of the five people spend the most time with” -Jim Rohn
4. “Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep, for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as the latter.” -Edwin Paxton Hood
5. “Your enlightenment depends on the company you keep. You do not know the world until you know the men who have possessed it and tried its wares before you were ever given your brief run upon it.” -Woodrow Wilson

Quotes for small businesses about success

1. “Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” – James Cash Penney, Founder of JCPenney
2. “Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.” – Dennis Waitley
3. “There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.” – Ronald Reagan
4. “To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.” – Thomas Watson Sr., CEO of International Business Machines
5. “You need to spend all of your time and energy on creating something that actually brings value to the people you’re asking for money!” – Gary Vaynerchuk

Quotes for small businesses from the bible

1. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. – Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV)
2. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged; for the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
3. Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. – Psalm 127:1 (NIV)
4.  The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. – Proverbs 4:7 (ESV)
5. In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. – Proverbs 14:23 (ESV)

Small business quotes about failure  

1. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill
2. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” - Henry Ford
3. “Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.” - Salvador Dali
4. “Failure is only the end if you decide to stop.” - Richard Branson
5. “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” - Coco Chanel

Small business quotes about money

1. "You only have so many hours in a day, let others make the money for you!" - Nick Haase, founder of Loot
2. "The longer you're not taking action the more money you're losing." – Carrie Wilkerson, author, speaker and encourager.
3. "Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No.1." - Warren Buffett, business magnate, investor and philanthropist.
4. "Don't let money run your life, let money help you run your life better." - John Rampton, CEO of Due.
5. "Beware of small expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship." - Benjamin Franklin, inventor and diplomat.

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So here it is a few of the best quotes you can use to help you push through some of the most challenging times in your business life.