1. A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one.

Mary Kay Ash (1915-2001) U.S. entrepreneur, business executive, and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. On People Management (1984)

2. It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth.

Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930) British prime minister. Letter to Mrs. Drew (1918)

3. A committee, of course, exists for the purpose of damping enthusiasms.

Stella Benson (1892-1933) British writer. Living Alone (1919)

4. I sell enthusiasm.

Silvio Berlusconi (b.1936) Italian media entrepreneur and prime minister. “Quotes of the year,” Financial Times (London) (December 24, 1988)

5. Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm. It is the real allegory of the tale of Orpheus; it moves stones and charms brutes. It is the genius of sincerity and truth accomplishes no victories without it.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-73) British novelist and politician. In Greek mythology Orpheus was a musician who could move both the animate and the inanimate with his music. Quoted in Dale Carnegie’s Scrapbook (Dorothy Carnegie, ed.; 1959)

6. Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) U.S. consultant and author. How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)

7. I get a tremendous charge out of business. I get the same sort of feeling that women must have when their babies pop out.

Terence Conran (b.1931) British business executive, retailer and founder of Habitat. Daily Express (London) (April 24, 1986)

8. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) U.S. essayist, lecturer, and poet. “Circles,” Essays: First Series (1841)

9. People who never get carried away, should be.

Steve Forbes (b.1947) U.S. publishing executive. Town and Country (November 1976)

10. What did it for me? It wasn’t my education or experience. It was my passion.

Andrea Jung (b.1958) U.S. president of Avon Products. “The 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business,” Fortune (Core Daniels; October 1999)

11. I’ve found that when it came to doing something I loved and fighting for it, things worked out. If you’re going to kill yourself to develop something, you’ve got to enjoy it.

Jeanine Lobell (b.1964) U.S. entrepreneur, founder and C.E.O. of Stila cosmetics. Quoted in “Jeanine Lobell; Making It Up,” Women to Watch, www.womenswire.com (Evelyn Sheinkopf; 1995)

12. We seriously undervalue the passion…a person brings to an enterprise. You can rent a brain, but you can’t rent a heart.

Mark McCormack (1930-2003) U.S. entrepreneur, founder and C.E.O. of the International Management Group. McCormack on Managing (1985)

13. To business that we love we rise betime, And go to’t with delight.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English poet, and playwright. Antony and Cleopatra (1606-07), Act. 4, Scene 4, II. 20-21

14. When enthusiasm and commitment take root within a project, that project comes to life.

Robin Sieger, British business executive and author. Natural Born Winners (1999)

15. There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly.

Terence (190?-159 B.C.) Roman comic playwright. The Self-Tormenter (163 B.C.), l, 805

16. If you don’t have passion…you might as well give up…you have no chance of making it. Passion is the essence of life, and certainly the essence of success.

Donald J. Trump (b.1946) U.S. real estate developer. Trump: The Art of the Comeback (co-written with Kate Bohner; 1997)

17. Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.

Andy Warhol (1928-87) U.S. artist and producer. Quoted in Observer (London) (March 1, 1987)