Leon Trotsky

I was not prepared to play the role of singer in the camp of the warriors

Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it.

Life is not an easy matter… You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.

Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement.

The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one’s enemies.

Prune – prune businesses, products, activities, people. Do it annually.

There are people who are really good managers, people who can manage a big organization, and then there are people who are very analytic or focused on strategy. Those two types don’t usually tend to be in the same person. I would put myself much more in the latter camp.

It is only by being bold that you get anywhere. If you are a risk-taker, then the art is to protect the downside.

A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them.

A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself.

Not everybody is some kind of media model.

Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.

One client didn’t want to go out so had us build him a nightclub in his house.

Success will always be measured by the extent to which we serve the buying public.

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

It’s a new endeavour for me. I’ve never run a territory. I’ve never talked publicly to people. I’ve got to try it just to see whether I like it.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

I believe that any stock that is sold should have real value as automobile or bushel of potatoes, and stock market should be run as a vegetable market.

[On being partners with Laura Nyro in Tuna Fish Music (Laura’s favorite food was Tuna Fish)] We became partners in this new publishing company.

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.