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Business Ethics

1. A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so disinterested.

Samuel Adams (1722-1803) U.S. revolutionary leader. Referring to Britain. Speech (August 1776)

 

2. A company’s ethical conduct is something like a big flywheel. It might have a lot of momentum, but it will eventually slow down and stop unless you add energy.

William Adams (b.1934) U.S. financial consultant. Quoted in Managing Corporate Ethics (Francis J. Aguilar; 1994)

 

3. If you allow men to use you for your own purposes, they will use you for theirs.

Aesop (620?-560? B.C.) Greek writer. “The Horse, Hunter, and Stag” (6th century B.C.)

 

4. In all industries, including the media, a few names are as common as muck. This isn’t talent telling, it’s unashamed favoritism.

Anonymous. Referring to nepotism. Guardian (London) (July 27, 2000)

 

5. The presumption that because you share a surname with someone who is good at their job, you’ll be good at it too, is patently nonsense. Yet nothing seems to help you more in life than your signature.

Anonymous. Referring to nepotism. Guardian (London) (July 27, 2000)

 

6. If you run in the forest, plant a tree.

Arturo Barrios (b.1962) U.S. athlete. Quoted in Running with the Legends (Michael Sandrock; 1996)

 

7. I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity.

Sydney Biddle Barrows (b.1952) U.S. brothel owner. “Mayflower Madam Tells All,” Boston Globe (1986)

 

8. The nature of business is swindling.

August Bebel (1840-1913) German politician. Speech (1892)

 

9. Copying other organizations’ activities sounds like industrial espionage to some people, but the truth is that benchmarking is perfectly legal and ethical.

Warren Bennis (b.1925) U.S. educator and writer. The 21st Century Organization (co-written with Michael Mische; 1995)

 

10. If all corporations were run like Fininvest, there would be no problems of public morality in Italy.

Silvio Berlusconi (b.1936) Italian media entrepreneur and prime minister. August 1994. Spoken before investigations into corruption in his Fininvest consortium. Quoted in Guardian (London) (December 31, 1994)

 

11. COMMERCE, n. A kind of transaction in which A plunders from B the goods of C, and for compensation B picks the pocket of D of money belonging to E.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) U.S. journalist and writer. The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

 

12. Businessmen and businesswomen are mute not only when they fail to speak up about flagrant abuse they become aware of…but also when they fail to speak up for causes or projects that they judge to be morally valuable.

Frederick Bruce Bird (b.1938) U.S. writer. The Muted Conscience (1996)

 

13. In the culture I grew up in, you did your work and you did not put your arm around it to stop other people from looking. You took the earliest possible opportunity to make knowledge available.

James Black (b.1924) British pharmacologist and winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Daily Telegraph (London) (December 1995)

 

14. We can be richer by being greener.

Tony Blair (b.1953) British prime minister. Press conference (October 2000)

 

15. Heavy-handed state intervention, the battle between capitalism and socialism…is dead and buried. But the idea of values, of collective purpose, and therefore of collective action is not. It is being renewed.

Tony Blair (b.1953) British prime minister. January 2000. Speech, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland. Quoted in World Link (March-April 2000)

 

16. A well-run business must have high and consistent standards of ethics.

Richard Branson (b.1950) British entrepreneur, business executive, and founder of the Virgin Group. Speech to the Institute of Directors, London. “Growing Bigger While Still Staying Small” (May 1993)

 

17. What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank?

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) German playwright and poet. The Threepenny Opera (1928)

 

18. Occasionally, a man must rise above principles.

Warren Buffett (b.1930) U.S. entrepreneur and financier. Annual report (1991)

 

19. We will only do with your money what we would do with our own.

Warren Buffett (b.1930) U.S. entrepreneur and financier. Annual report (1989)

 

20. The face of evil is always the face of total need.

William S. Burroughs (1914-97) U.S. novelist. The Naked Lunch (1959)

 

21. It isn’t etiquette to cut anyone you’ve been introduced to.

Lewis Carroll (1832-98) British writer and mathematician. Said by the Red Queen. Through the Looking Glass (1872)

 

22. “Organizational values” always derive from “individual values”-especially those of the founding fathers and of the very top executives.

S.K. Chakraborty (b.1957) Indian academic. Management by Values: Towards Cultural Congruence (1991)

 

23. Values serve the process of “becoming,” in the sense of transformation of the level of consciousness to purer, higher levels.

S.K. Chakraborty (b.1957) Indian academic. Management by Values: Towards Cultural Congruence (1991)

 

24. What is a value in IBM could be the reverse in an Indian firm.

S.K. Chakraborty (b.1957) Indian academic. Management by Values: Towards Cultural Congruence (1991)

 

25. There are two parties involved in every corrupt transaction, typically a government official and a business person. Yet those who pay bribes are often depicted as innocent victims…The reality is that both parties conspire to defraud the public.

Lynda Chalker (b.1942) British politician. “Public Sector Corruption from an International Perspective.” Speech, University of Glasgow, Scotland (February 19, 1999)

 

26. Such is the brutalization of commercial ethics in this country no one can feel anyting more delicate than the velvet touch of a soft buck.

Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) U.S. writer. Letter to his publisher, Raymond Chandler Speaking (Dorothy Gardiner and Katherine S. Walker, eds.; 1962)

 

27. Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it.

G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) British novelist, poet and critic. The Man Who Was Thursday (1908)

 

28. Just to the windward of the law.

Charles Churchill (1731-64) British curate and satirist. The Ghost (1762)

 

29. The good of the people is the chief law.

Cicero (106-43 B.C.) Roman orator and statesman. Attrib.

 

30. In every era, society must strike the right balance between the freedom businesses need to compete for a market share and to make profits and the preservation of family and community values.

Hillary Clinton (b.1947) U.S. lawyer, politician and former first lady. It Takes a Village (1996)

 

31. Thou shalt not cheat; an empty feat when it’s so lucrative to cheat.

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-61) British poet. “The Latest Decalogue” (1862)

 

32. At the risk of a horrible mixed metaphor, we can say that the Celtic Tiger needs a human face and a human heart.

Cahal Daly (b.1917) Irish Roaman Catholic archbishop and cardinal. Referring to the economic boom in Ireland Irish Times (January 10, 1998)

 

33. These mobsters had enjoyed power for many years. They weren’t going to roll over and play dead.

Miguel Angel Davila (b.1966) Mexican entrepreneur. Referring to labor problems in Mexico. Forbes (May 1998)

 

34. No longer can a manufacturer afford treat a supplier like a vendor from whom every last ounce of cost-saving must be wrung. Nor can a customer be treated simply like a market for products and services at the best possible price.

Michael Dell (b.1965) U.S. chairman and C.E.O. of Dell Computer Corporation. Speech to the 1998 World Congress on Information Technology, Vienna, Virginia. “Collaborating in a Connected Economy: The Power of Virtual Integration” (June 24, 1998)

 

35. We are human beings, not businessmen trying to shaft the consumer at home.

James Dyson (b.1947) British entrepreneur. Management Today (July 1999)

 

36. People should be given the opportunity to vote with their wallets.

Noel Edmonds (b.1948) British broadcaster and media executive. 1991. Referring to ethical products. Quoted in Noel Edmonds (Alison Bowyer; 1999)

 

37. All we did was to try to take information that was hidden and bring it into the light.

Larry D. Ellison (b.1945) U.S. C.E.O. of Oracle Corporation intelligence. Sunday Times (London) (July 2000)

 

38. We will ship them our garbage. We believe in full disclosure.

Larry D. Ellison (b.1945) U.S. C.E.O. of Oracle Corporation. Referring to corporate spying during Microsoft hearings. Sunday Times (London) (July 2000)

 

39. We know the good but we do not practice it.

Euripides (484?-406? B.C.) Greek playwright. Attrib.

 

40. The camera cannot lie but it can be an accessory to untruth.

Harold Evans (b.1928) British newspaper editor and publisher. Good Times, Bad Times (1983)

 

41. It was the first takeover I had experienced. It wasn’t merely insensitive and unjust: it was rebellious in its consequences for the company.

Harold Evans (b.1928) British newspaper editor and publisher. Referring to Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of the London Times and the Sunday Times. Good Times, Bad Times (1983)

 

42. He has made a profession out of a business and an art out of a profession.

Clifton Fadiman (1904-99) U.S. editor and author. Referring to Alfred A. Knopf, recalled on Knopf’s death on August 11, 1984. New York Times (1984)

 

43. Customers must trust an organization and its people.

Tom Farmer (b.1940) British chairman and C.E.O. of Kwik-Fit. Management Today (July 1999)

 

44. Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad. But it does not carry instructions on how to use it.

Richard Feynman (1918-88) U.S. physicist..Address (1957)

 

45. I believe in the market and the power of the market to generate wealth in a responsible way and ensure everyone in your society has an even chance to participate.

Niall Fitzgerald (b.1945) British C.E.O. of Uni;ever and president of the Advertising Association. Marketing (July 2000)

 

46. If you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business.

Berte Charles Forbes (1880-1954) U.S. publisher and writer. Quoted in Forbes (1974)

 

47. A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.

Henry Ford (1863-1947) U.S. industrialist, automobile manufacturer, and founder of Ford Motor Company. Quoted in The Arizona Republic (1999)

 

48. We must find ways to live together, cooperate, understand our differences, respect them, but also work for all the things that build our friendship, our common interests, our mutual responsibilities.

Carlos Fuentes (b.1928) Mexican writer. Referring to relations between Mexico and the United States. A New Time for Mexico (1994)

 

49. If networks are to be more efficient…this will come about only on the basis of a high level of trust and the existence of shared norms of ethical behavior between network members.

Francis Fukuyama (b.1952) U.S. economist and writer. Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity (1995)

 

50. Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.

  1. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) U.S. Inventor, architect and philosopher. Operating Manual for Planet Earth (1969)

 

51. The greater the wealth, the thicker will be the dirt.

J.K. Galbraith (b.1908) U.S. economist and diplomat. The Affluent Society (1958)

 

52. It is difficult but not impossible to conduct strictly honest business. What is true is that honesty is incompatible with the amassing of a large fortune.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian nationalist leader and philosopher. Non-Violence in Peace and War (1948)

 

53. Business now shares in much of the responsibility for our global quality of life.

Roberto Goizueta (1931-97) U.S. C.E.O. of Coca-Cola Speech (October 1992)

 

54. Ethical conduct is not a matter of conformity to some preset plan. It is more concerned with acceptable and desirable parameters of conduct.

Damian Grace (b.1950) Australian academic. Australian Problems and Cases (1995)

 

55. If there is no conception that a decision entails ethical considerations, and if there is no adequate conceptual vocabulary to make sense of ethical requirements, then reasonable ethical standards in business become a matter of luck.

Damian Grace (b.1950) Australian academic. Australian Problems and Cases (1995)

 

56. Unless managers are aware of ethical issues… they will fail to institutionalize ethics in corporate life. Ignorance can be as pernicious as malice.

Damian Grace (b.1950) Australian academic. Australian Problems and Cases (1995)

 

57. If there’s no money in poetry, neither is there poetry in money.

Robert Graves (1895-1985) British poet, novelist, and classical scholar. Speech (December 1963)

 

58. Our track record is good. We’ve been investigated by the government before, and we got a clean bill of health. We’ve been sued in about half a dozen private antitrust suits, and they all got dismissed. I don’t think it’s an accident. We…try to impose the legality and the ethics of competing fairly on all elements of our business. That’s what we worry about.

Andrew S. Grove (b.1936) U.S. entrepreneur, author, and chairman of Intel Corporation. On the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice’s investigation into the practices of dominant industry players such as Intel and Microsoft. Interview, Upside Magazine (October 12, 1997)

 

59. No plagiarist can excuse the wrong by showing how much of his work he did not pirate.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) U.S. judge. Trial Speech (1936)

 

60. The spirit of Liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) U.S. judge. The Spirit of Liberty (1952)

 

61. We have corporate CEOs who raise their pay 20 percent or more in years when they lay off thousands of people. It’s obscene.

Charles Handy (b.1932) British business executive and author. Quoted in BusinessWeek (April 25, 1994)

 

62. Our  Shari’ah legal code doen not permit our participating in interest bearing instruments. That means that owning a savings account or a certificate of deposit is a mortal sin for Muslims.

Hasnita Dato Hashim (b.1962) Malaysian investment banker. Forbes (June 2000)

 

63. To take a simple example, a construction company is, on the face of it, a perfectly appropriate investment. But if a great deal of its activity involves the building of casinos, then it is not for an Islamic investor.

Hasnita Dato Hashim (b.1962) Malaysian investment banker. Forbes (June 2000)

 

64. When participation is suggested in terms of control over overall goals, it is usually a sham.

Frederick Herzberg (1923-2000) U.S. psychologist. The Motivation to Work (1959)

 

65. Oh God, that bread should be so dear

And flesh and blood so cheap.

Thomas Hood (1799-1845) British poet. “The Song of the Shirt” (1843)

 

66. That action is best, which provides the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746) Irish philosopher. An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725)

 

67. Inequality is not only about income, where real poverty has grown, it is about self-esteem.

Will Hutton (b.1950) British author and newspaper editor. The State We’re In (1995)

 

68. We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay I back.

Lee Iacocca (b.1924) U.S. president of Ford Motor Company, chairman and C.E.O. of Chrysler Corporation. New York Times (1983)

 

69. Ministers and merchants love nobody.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) U.S. president. Letter to John Langdon (September 11, 1785)

 

70. There’s nothing wrong with big companies. A lot of people think big business in America is a bad thing. I think it’s a really good thing. Most people in business are ethical, hard-working, good people. And it’s a meritocracy.

Steve Jobs (b.1955) U.S. entrepreneur, cofounder and C.E.O. of Apple Computer Company, and C.E.O. of Pixar. Interview, ”The Next Insanely Great Thing,” Wired Magazine (February1996)

 

71. Too seldom does the world pause to consider how much kinder and more humane business has become since women invaded the market-place.

Edith Johnson (1891-1954) U.S. writer and educator. Women of the Business World (1923)

 

72. I think we are in danger of a populous backlash. I think it will be against big institutions of all kind, government and big business.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter (b.1943) U.S. management Theorist, academic and writer. Interview, www.pbs.org/newshour (1995)

 

73. Two half truths do not make a truth.

Arthur Koestler (1905-83) British writer and journalist. The Ghost in the Machine (1967)

 

74. Ethical traps are more common now than a generation ago…In a volatile world, it is easy to step over moral boundaries.

John P. Kotter (b.1947) U.S. writer. The New Rules (1995)

 

75. Original research tends to be a novel concept.

Ashok Kumar (b.1964) Indian investment analyst. Forbes (September 2000)

 

76. Not property is wrong, not profits are wrong, nor money or gain, but the swollen disproportionate gain that can turn a monied group to be the bosses of their fellow men.

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) Canadian humorist, essayist, economist, and historian. While There Is Time (1945)

 

77. These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) U.S. president. Speech (January 1837)

 

78. Civilized men think as they trade, not in kind but by means of a circulating medium.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-59) British politician and historian. Attrib.

 

79. The leader should know how to enter into evil when necessary commands.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian historian, statesman, and political philosopher. The Prince (1513)

 

80. The mission of a manufacturer should be to overcome poverty, to relieve society as a whole from misery and bring it wealth.

Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989) Japanese electronics executive, entrepreneur, and inventor. Quest for Prosperity (1988)

 

81. We take society’s capital, we take their people, we take their materials, yet without a good profit we are using precious resources that could be used better elsewhere.

Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989) Japanese electronics executive, entrepreneur, and inventor. Quest for Prosperity (1988)

 

82. I would have been a success in anything. But I have chosen an activity that was socially useful and that aspect gives me extra satisfaction.

Robert Maxwell (1923-91) British publisher business executive and politician. Interview (July 1967)

 

83. So long as commerce specializes in business methods which take no account of human nature and social motives, so long may we expect strikes and sabotage to be the ordinary accompaniment of industry.

Elton Mayo (1880-1949) U.S. psychologist. The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization (1933)

 

84. These issues are not simply about PR and reputation, but about the fundamental nature of business and ensuring our long-term success. Business can no longer operate in a vacuum, insulated from the demands and concerns of the outside world, even if it wanted to.

Mark Moody-Stuart (b.1940) British chairman of Anglo American and former chairman of Committee of Managing Directors Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Speech to the World Congress of the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics, Sao Paolo, Brazil. Referring to ethical issues. “Putting Principles into Practice: The Ethical Challenge to Global Business” (July 19, 2000)

 

85. The Sceptics should consider the business reputation impact of this emerging agenda,. In recent years, public concern over the environment, human rights, and ethical issues has directly affected a wide range of household name companies, including shell, Bp Amoco, Disney Monsanto, Nike and Nestle Consumer boycotts, NGO campaigns and political pressure are all facts of business life.

Mark Moody-Stuart (b.1940) British chairman of Anglo American and former chairman of Committee of Managing Directors Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Speech to the World Congress of the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics, Sao Paolo, Brazil. Referring to ethical issues. “Putting Principles into Practice: The Ethical Challenge to Global Business” (July 19, 2000)

 

86. I think one of the more interesting conclusions emerging from this ever more complicated business environment, is that values do matter. Sustainable business will have to be responsible and sensitive to the needs of everyone involved.

Mark Moody-Stuart (b.1940) British chairman of Anglo American, and former chairman of committee of Managing Directors Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Speech, St. Paul’s Cathedral London. “The Values of Sustainable Business in the Next Century” (July 12, 1999)

 

87. The final task of industry, therefore, is to organize participation in these activities, even in the most backward communities and countries.

James Mooney (1884-1957) U.S. business executive. Onward Industry (co-written with Alan Reiley; 1931)

 

88. The highest development of the techniques both of production and distribution will be futile to supply the material wants of those who, because of poverty, are unable to acquire through purchase.

James Mooney (1884-1957) U.S. business executive. Onward Industry (co-written with Alan Reiley; 1931)

 

89. We would never do violence such as you see in a Nintendo game.

Rupert Murdoch (b.1931) U.S. C.E.O. of News Corporation. In response to the question, “What won’t you do?” “What Won’t You Do?,” The New Yorker (Ken Auletta; 1993)

 

90. It’s possible to live in this country and create wealth legally and ethically.

Narayana Murthy (b.1946) Indian founder and C.E.O. of Infosys. Referring to India. Forbes (October 2000)

 

91. Should we really let our people starve so we can pay our debts.

Julius Nverere (1922-99) Tanzanian president. Guardian (London) (March 1985)

 

92. Negotiating with them reminded me of haggling over a fake Rolex on the streets of Bangkok.

Sandy Oh (b.1971) Malaysian investment banker. Business Week (September 2000)

 

93. I am I plus my surroundings, and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself.

Jose Ortega Y Gasset (1883-1955) Spanish author and philosopher. Meditaciones del Quijote (1914)

 

94. There are only two kinds of men: those righteous who believe themselves sinners; the other sinners who believe themselves righteous.

Blaise Pascal (1623-62) French philosopher and mathematician. Pensees (1670), no. 562

 

95. An activist- the guy who clears the river, not the guy who concludes it’s dirty.

  1. Ross Perot (b.1930) U.S. entrepreneur, venture capitalist and politician. Quoted in Ross Perot (Ken Gross; 1992)

 

96. He’s a businessman…I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.

Mario Puzo (1920-99) U.S. novelist. The offer referred to is a death threat. The Godfather (1969), bk.1, ch.1

 

97. Businesses which forego profits to build communities, or keep production local…risk losing business to cheaper competitiors without such commitments, and being targeted for take-over by..corporate raiders. Reinforced by the weight of the WTO.

Anita Roddick (b.1942) British entrepreneur and founder of The Body Shop. Speech to the International Forum on Globalization Teach-In Seattle Washington “Trading with Principles” (November 27, 1999)

 

98. To run this business…you need..optimism, humanism, enthusiasm, intuition, curiosity, love, humour, magic and fun, and that secret ingredient-euphoria

Anita Roddick (b.1942) British entrepreneur and founder of The Body Shop. Body and Soul (co-written with Russell Miller; 1991)

 

99. Which of us…is to do the hard and dirty work for the rest-and for what pay? Who is to do the pleasant and clean work, and for what pay?

John Ruskin (1819-1900) British art critic and writer Sesame and Lillies (1865)

 

100. Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful, and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous and loathed because they impose slavery.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British philosopher and writer, Sceptial Essays (1928)

 

101. Fashion is something barbarous for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefi.

George Santayana (1863-1952) U.S. philosopher, novelist, and poet. The Life of Reason (1905)

 

102. We continue to struggle with the old question…of whether to obey a superior even when the order is unjust.

John Ralston Saul (b.1947) Canadian writer. The Unconscious Civilization (1995)

 

103. I think that the best companies are companies that have a real purpose.

Marjorie Scardino (b.1947) U.S. C.E.O. of Pearson Fortune (October 2000)

 

104. One can’t say that figures lie. But figures, as used in financial arguments, seem to have the bad habit of expressing a small part of the truth forcibly and neglecting the other part, as do some people we know.

Fred Schwed (1901?-1966) U.S. author. Where Are The Customers Yachts? (1940)

 

105. Companies have to be socially responsible or the shareholders pay eventually.

Warren Shaw (b.1950) U.S. former C.E.O. of Chancellor LGT Asset Management. Referring to the achievements of African Americans in business. “The Players,” Fortune (Eileen Gunn; April 1997)

 

107. Biopiracy is the Columbian “discovery” 500 years after Columbus.

Vandana Shiva (b.1944) Indian academic. Globalisation Gandhi and Swadeshi (2000)

 

108. Patents on life…the enclosure of the intellectual and biological commons.

Vandana Shiva (b.1944) Indian academic. Globalisation Gandhi and Swadeshi (2000)

 

109. I strongly believe that core business interests are advanced by socially responsible policies that help promote development in poorer countries.

Clare Short (b.1946) British politician. Management Today (November 1999)

 

110. The latter-day robber barons are discovering that better conditions and rewards for workers pay off in a world where consumers increasingly demand ethical standards.

Clare Short (b.1946) British politician. Management Today (November 1999)

 

111. Smaller businesses often say the words, but can’t get in on the act.

Clare Short (b.1946) British politician. Referring to the difficulties of maintaining ethical standards in the face of severe competition. Management Today (November 1999)

 

112. Whenever we have compromised on our principles, we and our customers have been the losers.

Marcus Sieff (1913-2001) British president of Marks & Spencer. Don’t Ask the Price, George (1987)

 

113. Markets reduce everything, including human beings and nature, to commodities.

George Soros (b.1930) U.S. financier entrepreneur and philanthropist. Atlantic Monthly (January 1998)

 

114. As an anonymous participant in financial markets, I never had to weigh the social consequences of my actions..I felt justified in ignoring them on the grounds that I was playing by the rules.

George Soros (b.1930) U.S. financier entrepreneur and philanthropist. The Crisis of Global Capitalism (1998)

 

115. Our Whole economy is based on planned obsolescence.

Brooks Stevens (1911-95) U.S. industrial designer. Quoted in The Waste Makers (Vance Packard; 1960)

 

116. When I build something for somebody…My guys come in, they say it’s going to cost $75 million. I say it’s going to cost $125 million, and I build it for $100 million. Basically, I did a lousy job. Butt They think I did a great job.

Donald J. Trump (b.1946) U.S. real estate developer. 1984. Said to a meeting of U.S. Football League owners. Quoted in New York Times (July 1, 1986)

 

117. Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S> writer. Speech to the Young People’s Society, Greenpoint Baptist Church, Brooklyn, New York (1901)

 

118. One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. writer Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894)

 

119. Commercialism is doing well that which should not be done at all.

Gore Vidal (b.1925) U.S. novelist and critic. Listener (August 1975)

 

120. A solid business must build on justice, fairness, and transparency.

Gaston Vizcarra (b.1952) Peruvian ecological entrepreneur and president of Candela Peru. Forbes (April 2000)

 

121. Conservation is business too.

Gaston Vizcarra (b.1952) Peruvian ecological entrepreneur and president of Candela Peru. Forbes (April 2000)

 

122. An artist is someone who produces things that people don’t need to have but that he-for some reason-thinks it would be a good idea to give them.

Andy Warhol (1928-87) U.S. artist and producer. The philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and Back Again) (1975)

 

123. Control and Learning are deeply embedded in the specific cultural and institutional ethos of an organization.

Yanni Yan (b.1958) Chinese business author and academic. “Managerial and Organization-Learning in Chinese Firms,” China’s Managerial Revolution (Malcolm Warner, ed.; 1999)

 

124. Nothing is illegal if 100 businessmen decide to do it.

Andrew Jackson Young, JR. (b.1932) U.S. diplomat and civil rights advocate. Press conference (1976)