James Cash Penney

Responsibilities are given to him on whom trust rests. Responsibility is always a sign of trust.

Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless.

It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.

We get real results only in proportion to the real values we give.

As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for.

Too many would-be executives are slaves of routine.

Our friendship was based on my payouts. That wasn’t a friendship when – as, for example, it’s me, my friends, we are friends for many years, and it doesn’t matter for me what the position is, where they work; we simply are friends. And with Mr. Berezovsky, our friendship was based on my payoffs.

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

Our aim is to compete with any luxury brand. Candy & Candy will be a luxury brand, recognised in Rodeo Drive, New York, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and London. Those are the major centres in the world. It will be synonymous with the design of homes, houses, flats, yachts, aircraft and retail.

Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine.

Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.

I have a theory that the best advertisements come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.

Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make.

Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.

My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades.

The golden rule for every businessman is this: Put yourself in your customer’s place.

Without hustle, talent will only carry you so far.

I never get the accountants in before I start up a business. It’s done on gut feeling, especially if I can see that they are taking the mickey out of the consumer.

My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.

If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.

Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.