1. We get business that we wouldn’t get if I were an inanimate object.

Michael Bloomberg (b.1942) U.S. entrepreneur, business executive, and Mayor of New York. Financial Times (London) (May 1997)

2. If you want to make money, hold your nose and go to Wall Street.

Warren Buffett (b.1930) U.S. entrepreneur and financier. Newsday (August 1991)

3. It was something you only spoke of in hushed tones. Advertising is a bit of an anathema.

Michael Bungey (b.1940) British advertising executive. Sunday Times (London) (August 2000)

4. Clothes are our weapons, our challenges and our visible insult.

Angela Carter (1940-92) British novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Nothing Sacred (1982)

5. It’s very straightforward and it’s very much part of who we are-that’s why we chose a short word for our name.

Barbara Cassani (b.1960) U.S. former C.E.O. of Go. Referring to Go, the budget  airline. Marketing (August 2000)

6. There is an idea, broadly held on Wall Street, that names with X’s are more memorable and tend to capture the attention of analysts. It is not held by us.

Clive Chajet (b.1937) U.S. management consultant. On advising clients about corporate name changes. “How American Can Become Primerica,” New York Times (Lisa Belkin; 1987)

7. Corporate identities must not be shortlived.

Clive Chajet (b.1937) U.S. management consultant. “Why Corporate Identity Can’t Be Designed,” The Manager (David Uren; 2000)

8. They proactively protected the consumers. I don’t think Bridgestone/Firestone has had as a priority nourishing their corporate image to withstand serious problems like this.

Clive Chajet (b.1937) U.S. management consultant. “Delay in Tire-recall Decried,” The Topeka Capital-Journal (Vicki Brown; 2000)

9. The best of us here have more rough than polished diamond.

Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) English statesman, orator and letter writer. Letter (November 1748)

10. Keep up appearances; there lies the test. The world will give thee credit for the rest.

Charles Churchill (1731-64) British curate and satirist. Night (1761)

11. Toughness doesn’t have to come in a pinstripe suit.

Dianne Feinstein (b.1933) U.S. politician. Time (June 1984)

12. I am a Ford, not a Lincoln. Gerald Ford (b.1913) U.S. former president. Speech (December 1973)

13. We don’t know how to sell products based on performance. Everything we sell, we sell based on image.

Roberto Goizueta (1931-97) U.S. C.E.O. of Coca-Cola. Wall Street Journal (Febraury 1997)

14. Our old stores looked like museums.

Farooq Kathwari (b.1944) Indian entrepreneur and C.E.O. of Ethan Allen. Forbes (April 1998)

15. Haute Couture should be fun, foolish and almost unwearable.

Christian Lacroix (b.1951) French couturier. Observer (London) (December 1987)

16. If people don’t want to listen to you, what makes you think they want to hear from your sweater.

Fran Lebowitz (b.1950) U.S. writer and columnist. Metropolitan Life (1978)

17. If you’re in jazz and more than ten people like you, you’re labeled commercial.

Herbie Mann (b.1930) U.S. musician. Serious Music and All that Jazz (1969)

18. They gave me start treatment when I was making a lot of money. But I was just as good when I was poor.

Bob Marley (1945-81) Jamaican musician. Quoted in True Confessions (Jon Winokar; 1992)

19. For exercise, I wind my watch.

Robert Maxwell (1923-91) British publisher, business executive and politician. Quoted in Time (November 28, 1988)

20. We in the free world can do great things. We proved it in Japan by changing the image of “made in Japan” from something shoddy to something fine.

Akio Morita (1921-99) Japanese business executive. Made in Japan (1986)

21. I am the kind of writer that people think other people are reading.
22. S. Naipaul (b.1932) Trinidadian writer and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature. Radio Times (March 1979)

22. Things aren’t always the way they seem from the outside.

Phil Nolan (b.1953) British C.E.O. of Eircom. Sunday Times (London) (September 2000)

23. A hosiery queen masquerading as a food company.

Tony O’Reilly (b.1936) Irish executive chairman of Independent News & Media and former C.E>O. of Heinz Corporation. Referring to the diversification of the food company Sara Lee. Economist (November 1992)

24. I didn’t particularly care that I was the role model, but I thought it was important that somebody should be.

Sally Kristen Ride (b.1951) U.S. astronaut. Referring to being the first U.S. woman in space. NASA press conference (1983)

25. I’m the beech tree. I chose it because of how strong the beech tree is, how beautiful its skin is, and how impenetrable it is.

Martha Stewart (b.1942) U.S. chairperson of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Referring to a company organization chart in which all managers are represented as trees. “The 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business,” Fortune (Patricia Sellers and Cora Daniels; October 1999)

26.My attempt not to be cast in a Hollywood niche definitely started hurting…I never seemed an obvious choice for anything.

Uma Thurman (b.1970) U.S. actor. Sunday Times (London) (October 2000)

27. From leaders, we need clear, consistent and honest attention to the identity of the organization. Identity shows up in our actions, our visions, our relationships inside and out of the organization. Identity gets deepened as we do the work.

Walter Wriston (b.1919) U.S. banker. “Don’t Get Out of the Way!,” www.mgeneral.com (1997)