100 Entrepreneur Quotes To Help You Achieve More

I’ve collected these 100 entrepreneur quotes with one goal in mind: to inspire and help you (and myself) on our entrepreneurial journey. You’ll discover quotes by Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and more. Enjoy!

Being an entrepreneur is an existential, not just a financial thing. Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Everyone should start a company. Sahil Lavingia

Biggest predictor of massive success vs. minor success among founders: years and years of relentless determination. Sam Altman

Control your own destiny or someone else will. Jack Welch

You imagine a better future, you create it, and then you sell tickets. Keith Rabois

Earn with your mind, not your time. Naval Ravikant

Figure out what you are uniquely the best in the world at because you just love it. And then just find out who or what needs that the most. Naval Ravikant

Great entrepreneurs don’t seek approval; they seek the truth. Mike Maples

Being an entrepreneur isn’t really about starting a business. It’s a way of looking at the world: seeing opportunity where others see obstacles, taking risks when others take refuge. Michael Bloomberg

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Steve Jobs

I never dreamed about success. I worked for it. Estée Lauder

A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions. Marcus Aurelius

The true entrepreneur knows he’ll keep trying forever. Maxime Lagacé

Start now. Start where you are. Start with fear. Start with pain. Start with doubt. Start with hands shaking. Start with voice trembling. Just start. Sara Blakely (Spanx)

If you don’t want to have a boss, you better be capable in the wild. Angela Jiang

Related

• 100 Business Quotes To Inspire Success In Your Workplace
• 82 Innovation Quotes To Make You More Creative
• 100 Risk Quotes To Reassure (and Empower You)

Special thanks to my virtual business mentors.

This page wouldn’t have been possible without you.

And I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Tim Ferriss (@tferriss), Naval Ravikant (@naval), Sahil Lavingia (@shl), Jack Butcher (@jackbutcher), James Clear (jamesclear.com, @JamesClear), Sam Altman (@sama), Angela Jiang (@angjiang), Brian Norgard (@BrianNorgard), Shane Parrish (fs.blog, @ShaneAParrish), Thibaut (@kpaxs), Justin Kan (@justinkan), Jason Fried (@jasonfried), Keith Rabois (@rabois), Ed Latimore (edlatimore.com, @EdLatimore), Anthony Pompliano (@APompliano), and lots more… Thank you.

The Best Entrepreneur Quotes

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Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable. Naval Ravikant

Behind every successful entrepreneur is a former failed self. Naval Ravikant

If you don’t love being in the mud, don’t start a company. Brian Norgard

No one cares about your idea more than you do. So if you’re not going to put in the work to make it happen, who will? Sahil Lavingia

Good employees make bad entrepreneurs. Angela Jiang

I cannot overemphasize how much everything is made up and there are no rules. Tiago Forte (Source)

Top skill for entrepreneurs: Being great at ignoring what everyone else is doing. Jason Fried

Work as hard as you can. Even though what you work on and who you work with are more important. Knowledge workers train, sprint, rest, and re-assess. Inspiration is perishable – act on it immediately. Be impatient with actions but patient with results. Naval Ravikant

Entrepreneurship is a test of will, not intellect. Alex Hormozi

Entrepreneur job responsibilities: create value, then distribute it, at your own risk. Inquire within. Angela Jiang

I’ve never met a rule I didn’t enjoy bending. Kamal Ravikant

Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once. Drew Houston (Dropbox)

If you follow the rules perfectly you will come out of it a perfected sheep. @AmuseChimp

Just like an artist can look at a blank canvas, and from that, create a masterpiece, founders do the same. Steve Blank

Where one person sees a crisis, another can see opportunity. Ryan Holiday

You have to sell yourself before you can sell your ideas. Shane Parrish

Don’t build something because you can, build something because you can’t stop thinking about it. Brian Norgard

Entrepreneurs are heroes in our society. They fail for the rest of us. Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Skin in the Game, Amazon book)

The most value comes from doing something no one else can do, or no one else has thought of, in a way that is hard for other people to copy. If you try to be just like everyone else, and do just what they’re doing, you will maybe do ok but certainly not great. Sam Altman (Y Combinator)

Productivity tips: work hard on stuff that matters. Don’t work on stuff that doesn’t matter. Most people screw up the second part. Sam Altman

Life is too short to spend every day doing something you don’t love. Jack Welch

People respond well to those that are sure of what they want. Anna Wintour (Vogue)

The fruits of entrepreneurship are meaning and freedom. Maxime Lagacé

Formula for a successful entrepreneur: Can build or sell with the best, doesn’t give up, knows when to pivot. The end. Nivi Babak

Aim to become not the best at what you do but the only person who does what you do. Keith Rabois

Part 2. Entrepreneur Quotes That Are…

The Most Famous Entrepreneur Quotes (Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, etc.)

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Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death. Elon Musk (Tesla)

Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself. Andrew Carnegie

I love those who yearn for the impossible. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you’re looking to become an entrepreneur then don’t waste your time going to university or business school – just get on and do it. Richard Branson

I’m not a businessman — I’m a business, man. Jay-Z

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it. Kurt Vonnegut

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. Walt Disney

You have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate. Jeff Bezos (Amazon)

An entrepreneur is someone who will jump off a cliff and assemble an airplane on the way down. Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn)

We led with our conviction rather than rational, because rational said it was impossible. Daniel Ek (Spotify)

Focusing on one thing and doing it really, really well can get you very far. Kevin Systrom

Knowing that things could be worse should not stop us from trying to make them better. Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook)

Everyone can tell you the risk. An entrepreneur can see the reward. Robert Kiyosaki

Always deliver more than expected. Larry Page (Google)

If you push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking risk, really amazing things can happen. Marissa Mayer (Google, Yahoo)

This defines entrepreneur and entrepreneurship – the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. Peter Drucker

Start with a reasonable investigation of some kind and make lots of experiments. You may not reach the goal you are seeking, but if you use common sense and keep your eyes open, you create your own opportunities for making worthwhile discoveries along the way. Thomas A. Edison

Don’t lose yourself on the way to the top. Jack Welch

Short Entrepreneur Quotes

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One-liners, short entrepreneur quotes, sayings, thoughts, and captions for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, and backgrounds.

If you’re not obsessed, forget about it. Maxime Lagacé

Productize yourself. Naval Ravikant (Related: Productize Yourself, 2-minute YouTube video)

Make yourself useful. Jack Butcher

You are a niche of one. Jack Butcher

Entrepreneurship: the art of building what’s missing. Maxime Lagacé

Only the paranoid survive. Andy Grove (Intel)

Those with brains and balls become artisans/entrepreneurs. Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Make something people need. Sam Altman (Not something people want)

Your life is a sales pitch. Jack Butcher

Entrepreneurs are the mental athletes of our generation. Dan Go (Source)

Entrepreneurs, just keep going. Brian Norgard

One of the greatest gifts as an entrepreneur is you get to see the future in the present. Brian Norgard

Please have the courage to chase your dreams as an entrepreneur. Andrew Gazdecki (Source)

Lack of time is lack of priorities. Tim Ferriss

Degrees are not useful. Skills are. Sahil Lavingia

Traction plus vision is unstoppable. Brian Norgard

Don’t be the best. Be the only. Kevin Kelly

Focus on what matters. Cut all the BS. Sam Altman

You’ll never see the whole path. Never. Just start. Maxime Lagacé

Build and build. Changpeng Zhao (Source)

Build things you wish people built for you. Sahil Lavingia

The wiser you get, the less you do it for money. Maxime Lagacé

It doesn’t matter how fast you move if it’s in a worthless direction. Sam Altman

Every true artist is at war with the world. Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

If you want to be an entrepreneur, treat it like a job. Sahil Lavingia (Source)

Ideas are the strongest things of all in history. Will & Ariel Durant

Experiment and tinker — take lots of small risks. Buster Benson

You don’t achieve anything great without breaking rules. Kamal Ravikant

Founders who live in the future have the best chance of winning big. Mike Maples

Inspirational Entrepreneur Quotes

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Make it happen now, not tomorrow. Tomorrow is a loser’s excuse. Farrah Gray

Worse writers than you have written and published books. Worse founders than you have built successful businesses. If they can do it, you can too. Sahil Lavingia

Entrepreneurs are just problem solvers who figured out how to monetize it. Anthony Pompliano (Source)

What can you write that no one else can write? Write that. What can you say that no one else can say? Say that. What can you build that no one else can build? Build that. Sahil Lavingia

Entrepreneurs and startup founders, when shit gets hard just remember you’re making the best bet in the world which is on yourself. Keep going. Andrew Gazdecki (Source)

The risk takers of the 16th century were scientists, but then science became an institution. The risk takers of the 20th century were social activists, but social justice became a culture. The risk takers of our time are entrepreneurs. All progress depends on the risk takers. Johnny Uzan

Fail by chasing trends, succeed by pursuing sincere interests. Brian Norgard

Every restaurant you ate at, every car you’ve drove, every book you’ve read, every movie you’ve watched, every podcast you’ve heard, started as an idea in someone’s mind, then they made it appear. They aren’t smarter, luckier or better than you, they just took a chance on themselves. Chris Johnson

Ignore the critics and fake news. Stay strong and keep building. Chris Dixon (Source)

Your product is imperfect. Your team is imperfect. You are imperfect. That’s precisely why you keep building. Why stop now? There’s so much left to do and experience. It’s time to test yourself – to walk through the forest of impossibility. That’s entrepreneurship. Brian Norgard

Real entrepreneurs don’t ask for permission to build product, recruit a team and raise money. They just do it. Brian Norgar

You’re authentic, stay it. You’re unique, show it. Maxime Lagacé

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, maybe you should create it. Sahil Lavingia

Everything can begin with you. You are the foundation of any change that will happen in your society. Thich Nhat Hanh

Some people consume, others create. Some people complain, others solve. Some people feel trapped, others seek freedom. Maxime Lagacé

It feels like 90% of being an entrepreneur is taking small but uncomfortable risks. Justin Welsh (Source)

Focus on doing one thing. Really well. As specific as possible. Don’t over-intellectualize it. Just make something people want. Daniel Gross

If you can solve a problem, you can build a company. If you can build a company, you can make money. If you can make money, you can achieve freedom. Solve problems to achieve freedom. Anthony Pompliano (Source)

Founders: Your job is to retain yourself. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You need to set things up so you are comfortable enough to run the distance. Justin Kan

You have a unique perspective, a unique way of seeing the world. You have a history. Use this, and make the thing that only you can make. @gumroad

One man’s problem is another man’s opportunity. Jack Butcher

Conclusion

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Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Warren Buffett

Further Readings

• Topic: Motivation
• 100+ Powerful Motivational Quotes For Success
• 100 Surprising Money Quotes (Get Inspired Fast!)
• 100 Creativity Quotes To Spark Your Best Ideas
• 10 Daily Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs (thimble.com)
• The 20 Best Pieces of Advice Every Aspiring Entrepreneur Needs to Hear (33-minute YouTube video)
• 121 Marketing Quotes That Will Empower You
• 100 Leadership Quotes To Inspire You (And Your Team)
• How To Be Successful In Life – 7 Simple Tips

Are you an entrepreneur? What’s your favorite entrepreneur quote? And remember: words can transform your life, if you find the right ones.