45 Business Quotes to Live, Work and Play By

Ideas and thoughts are the currency of change — in life and business.

What better way to reflect on this past year by kicking your thoughts into high gear? Here are 45 quotes that every entrepreneur and small business owner can live, work and play by:

Live

Definition: to be alive.

1. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anaïs Nin
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2. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
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3. “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey
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4. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
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5. “A man should never neglect his family for business.” – Walt Disney
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6. “You must remain focused on your journey to greatness.” – Les Brown
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7. “Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive.” – Elbert Hubbard
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8. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” – Paulo Coelho
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9. “A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.” – Warren Buffett
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10. “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein
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11. “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” – Alice Morse Earle
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12. “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches.” – Napoleon Hill
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13. “Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves.” – E. Joseph Cossman
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14. “Drive thy business, let not that drive thee.” – Benjamin Franklin
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15. “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” – Warren Buffett
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Work

Definition:sustained physical or mental effort to overcome obstacles and achieve an objective or result.

16. “Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda
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17. “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” – George Bernard Shaw
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18. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Alva Edison
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19. “If you don’t do it excellently, don’t do it at all. Because if it’s not excellent, it won’t be profitable or fun, and if you’re not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?” – Robert Townsend
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20. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
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21. “Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves — to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today.” – Stewart B. Johnson
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