David Ogilvy

The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife.

Some manufacturers illustrate their advertisements with abstract paintings. I would only do this if I wished to conceal from the reader what I was advertising.

I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs.

It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially – like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.

Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image.

Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.

Entrepreneurs are always taking feedback, especially from their customers, bankers, workers, and sales force. Without straightforward feedback, entrepreneurs cannot make sound decisions.

Competition is the keen cutting edge of business, always shaving away at costs.

The well-satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts.

My style of deal-making is quite simple and straightforward. I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after.

Nothing can be made except by makers, nothing can be managed except by managers. Money cannot make anything and money cannot manage anything.

I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information.

I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life’s problems.

I don’t hire a lot of number-crunchers, and I don’t trust fancy marketing surveys. I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions.

I was never involved in arms trading. In the Russian Federation, arms trading is the prerogative of the state.

An imitation may be quite successful in its own way, but imitation can never be Success. Success is a first-hand creation.

Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No.1.

As far as competition is concerned, that must continue. But we must learn what competition really is. It is a striving to attain the best. To throttle it would mean to stop all progress. Certain men do not need to compete. They are pioneers.

When prices go up, business goes down.

Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.

Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.