John Wanamaker

"Keep your word. When you promise something, deliver it."

"The more you give, the more you get."

"The best of all the truths I have discovered are those that inspire action toward worthy goals."

"A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business."

"The customer is not an interruption of our work, the customer is the purpose of it."

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half, but I'm going to keep trying to find out."

"One man cannot be right when all of his neighbors are wrong."

"The merchant who succeeds in his calling must be a missionary at heart."

"Commerce is the exchange of ideas and wills as much as it is the exchange of goods."

"I learned early that if you cannot serve, you cannot lead."

"The man who never made a mistake never tried anything new."

"In business, as in life, a man must keep his word or he keeps nothing."

"Blessed is the man whose work is a pleasure."

"The true measure of success is not what you accumulate, but what you inspire others to achieve."

"Time lost in business is never recovered; it is like a forgotten debt."

"I believe that every man's business is his religion."

"The greatest achievement in a day's work is not what we sell, but what we learn about ourselves."

"In matters of conscience and principle, compromise is weakness."

"A closed mind is like a closed shop; it does no business."

"The test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching."

"To educate a man is to elevate a nation."

"I have always believed that the best way to influence others is to serve them."

"Change is the price of survival in business and in life."

"Money is power, but wisdom is more powerful still."

"The art of selling is the art of understanding human nature."

"A man's reputation is more valuable than his property."

"In the pursuit of business excellence, never lose sight of human excellence."

"The greatest luxury in life is the respect of honest men."

"I built my business on the principle that people appreciate good value and honest dealing."

"Patience is not the absence of action; it is action guided by wisdom."