A Month of Quotes to Inspire Creative Entrepreneurs
Instead of listening to those who tell you to keep your feet on the ground, remind yourself how great it feels to soar.
Creative entrepreneurship is a difficult path, especially because, as Einstein noticed, “Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
Here are 31 quotes to keep your thinking fresh this month. Pick one for reflection every day to amp up your creativity, remind you why innovation is so important, and keep those ingenious ideas flowing.
- “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.” —Helen Keller, co-founder of the ACLU
- “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” —Jack Welch, former CEO of GE
- “If you had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” —Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company
- “Creativity is the root of entrepreneurship.” —Karndee Leopairote, Thammasat University
- “You always have a choice. You have a choice to embrace the unknown and grow in leaps and bounds, or you can choose to be stuck for years and years and years.” —Ariana Ayu, CEO of Ayutopia International, author of The Magic of Mojo: The Creative Power Behind Success
- “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” —Dan Millman, author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior
- “There’s lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there’s only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: it’s to change the world.” —Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote
- “Fail often so you can succeed sooner.” —Tom Kelley, innovation expert
- “Being imaginative is having ideas; being creative is converting ideas into production.” —Amornrat Pratoomma, P-PAC
- “The things we fear the most in organizations–fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances–are the primary sources of creativity.” —Margaret Wheatley, management consultant
- “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.” —Guy Kawasaki, co-founder of Alltop
- “Have the end in mind and every day make sure you’re working towards it.” —Ryan Allis, co-founder and CEO of iContact
- “Define success in your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” —Anne Sweeney, former president of the Disney-ABC Television Group
- “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou, author and poet
- “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” —Steve Martin, comedian and actor
- “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” —Thomas Edison, inventor
- “Creativity is not just a skill but an attitude–a rebellious desire to be different.” —Chaipranin Visudhipol, TBWA
- “There is only one success–to be able to spend your life in your own way.” —Christopher Morley, journalist
- “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” —George S. Patton, U.S. general
- “‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually,’ just do it and correct course along the way.” —Timothy Ferriss, author
- “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” —Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks
- “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” —Jim Rohn, entrepreneur
- “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” —Albert Einstein, physicist
- “In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination.” —Steve Case, co-founder of AOL
- “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” —Michelangelo, artist
- “Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.” —Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos
- “Creativity, as has been said, consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know. Hence, to think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.” —George Kneller, author
- “Simplicity is the key to brilliance.” —Bruce Lee, martial arts expert
- “You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, love big, and live big.” —Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist
- “It’s not that we need new ideas, but we need to stop having old ideas.” —Edwin Land, Polaroid co-founder
- “Done is better than perfect.” —Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook
This article was originally published on Inc.com in April 2016.
Author, activist, international speaker, multi-preneur, mentor, wife, and mom, Ariana Ayu is a Transformational Mystic and a Catalyst for Conscious Change.
She is the creator and lead educator for the CannyNurse™ Certificate Program, a 50-hour CEU program for nurses from LPNs through doctoral degrees, and the first comprehensive cannabis nurse training program designed for working nurses. An ordained priestess, holistic healer, and lifelong student of ancient/ modern wisdom, Ariana’s nursing background includes pediatrics, labor & delivery, nurse education, and Holistic Health/ Integrative Nurse Coaching.
She earned her MSc in Advancing Nursing Practice from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland (UK), and her Cannabis Nursing Certification from Pacific College of Health and Science.
She is passionate about racial justice, social equity, environmental preservation and conservation, and empowered health, wellness, and joy for all. Her practice is governed by the ethical principles of integrity, nonjudgment, empowerment, and respect for her clients’ autonomy.