Business leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives all need inspiration from time to time. Below you can find the 42 most influential and moving business quotes from famous leaders of the 21st century. If you are an individual striving for success, but are burdened by a lack of motivation, this collection of quotes may be the inspiration you need. 

It is shocking to see the innovation and risk-taking that is required to keep a business alive in today’s competitive market. Browse these business quotes to learn how you can come out on top!

1. "First get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then they can figure out where to drive it."
— Jim Collins, Good to Great

2. "Train yourself to let go of the things you fear to lose."
— George Lucas, Lucasfilm

3. “The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”
— Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point

4. “A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”
— Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek

5. “Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don’t find one, it’s you.”
— Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks

6. “The companies that I really admire the most are the ones that have a deep visceral understanding of why people use their service, and they figure out ways of making money that are completely consistent with how people are feeling and what they are doing at the time.”
— Ben Silbermann, Pinterest

7. “If there’s something you want to build, but the tech isn’t there yet, just find the closest possible way to make it happen.”
— Dennis Crowley, Foursquare

8.“The next big thing is the one that makes the last big thing usable.”
— Blake Ross, Mozilla Firefox

9. “Life is like business, 20% of what happens to you is 80% of how you react.”
— Daymond John, Fubu

10. “Every startup should address a real and demonstrated need in the world. If you build a solution to a problem lots of people have, it’s so easy to sell your product to the world.”
— Kevin Systrom, Instagram

11. “I’m here to build something for the long-term. Anything else is a distraction.”
—Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

12. Uber is efficiency with elegance on top. That’s why I buy an iPhone instead of an average cell phone, why I go to a nice restaurant and pay a little bit more. It’s for the experience."
— Travis Kalanick, Uber

13. “To me, business isn’t about wearing suits or pleasing stockholders. It’s about being true to yourself, your ideas and focusing on the essentials.”
— Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group

14. “Life is fragile. We’re not guaranteed a tomorrow so give it everything you’ve got.”
— Tim Cook, Apple

15. “It’s not about having a specific set time; both personal and professional lives are 24/7. It’s simply, more about making the right allocation to each one and recognizing that it’s going to be different every single day.”
— Ellen Kullman, Dupont

16. "I'm not an inventor. I just want to make things better."
— Daniel Ek, Spotify

17. "You only have to be right once."
— Drew Houston, Dropbox

18. “You have to be very nimble and very open minded. Your success is going to be very dependent on how your adapt.”
— Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp

19. “If you can’t feed a team with two pizzas, it’s too large.”
— Jeff Bezos, Amazon

20. “Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.”
— Jack Dorsey, Twitter

21. “Fail often so you can succeed sooner.”
— Tom Kelley, Ideo

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22. “Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.”
— Biz Stone, Twitter

23. “Anything that is measured and watched, improves.”
— Bob Parsons, GoDaddy

24. “Data beats emotions.”
— Sean Rad, Tinder

25. “The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world."
— Marc Benioff, Salesforce

26. "Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40-hour work weeks and you're putting in 100 hour workweeks, then even if you're doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve."
— Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla Motors

27. “Always deliver more than expected.”
— Larry Page, Google

28. “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.”
— Howard Schultz, Starbucks

29. “Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.”
— Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post Media Group

30. “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”
— Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn

31. “Often times in order to capture your dreams, it will require you to chase your fears.”
— Neil Patel, Crazy Egg 

32. "I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine."
—Neil Armstrong, NASA

33. “Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.”
— Sara Blakely, Spanx

34. “Option A is not available. So let’s kick the sh** out of option B."
– Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook

Keep Reading:

• 52 Inspirational Teamwork Quotes for 2017
• Ultimate List of Motivational Podcasts for Your Commute to Work
• Top 10 Leadership Books for People Who Mean Business

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