John Wanamaker

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."

"The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius."

"One thing is sure. We cannot deny our past. Our task is not to fight it, but to fulfill our obligations to the present."

"A merchant who sells goods at a loss will be bankrupt in six months."

"The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph."

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."

"Every man is born an original, but most men die copies."

"Be not afraid to entertain an unorthodox idea, for it may be the only way to progress."

"If others would but reflect on mathematics as deeply as I have, they would find more strange things in numbers than I have found."

"The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unfinished he may be, is always trying to become better."

"What is to be done with people who won't listen? You educate them."

"A man is not a woman unless he acts like a woman."

"There is no greater thing a human soul ever does in this world than to see something and tell what it saw in plain speech."

"To choose is to commit oneself."

"The consumer, so it is said, is the king in the boardroom of business."

"Keep promises even if it costs you more than you expected."

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

"Commerce is a noble profession, and the principles of honor ought to characterize the merchant as much as the soldier."

"The best customer service is if the customer doesn't need to call you, doesn't need to talk to you."

"Aim for the highest; never enter a barroom; do not touch tobacco; never gamble; be pure; be modest."

"One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests."

"Dream big, work hard, stay focused."

"I would rather be ashes than dust."

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own."

"In retail, the customer is the boss."

"The path to success is to take massive, determined action."

"You must learn that the public is willing to assist a man who assists himself."

"Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend."

"Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew."