Quotes for Small Business Owners

Valerie Wright
6 Jan 2014

With the new year, we have begun the process of writing our humbly audacious book. So much writing, so much editing to be done. We’ll be rolling out previews of chapters as they become suitable for publication here on the SBT blog.

In the meantime, however, here’s a few quotes that we use for inspiration. Maybe you’ll find them handy as well.


400px-Muir_and_Roosevelt_restored“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
-Teddy Roosevelt

“Curiosity is at the heart of authenticity. It’s the end of loneliness.” -Unknown

“Manage your energy, not your time” – Tony Schwartz

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while the ordinary man takes everything as either a blessing or a curse.” – Carlos Castaneda

“After victory, tighten the straps on your helmet.” – Tokugawa Ieyasu

 Finally, here’s a link to The Psalm of Life, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  

Got any favorite quotes/ideas that get you going in the morning?  Share them below: