Lee Iacocca Quotes

Most people are looking for security, a nice, safe, prosperous future. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's called the American Dream.

It's a good thing god doesn't let you look a year or two into the future, or you might be sorely tempted to shoot yourself.

I always go back to Harry Truman: Should we drop an atomic bomb to save 100,000 lives? That's a hell of a decision to make. Did he make that decision by himself? No, he had advisers.

The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.

There is no substitute for accurate knowledge. Know yourself, know your business, know your men.

I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.

Here's what management is about: Pick good people and set the right priorities.

In business, I loved cars. I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning. Only in America can you decide to get a good education and pursue what you like.

I'm still not sure what is meant by good fortune and success. I know fame and power are for the birds. But then life suddenly comes into focus for me. And, ah, there stand my kids.

My father used to say, 'You can spend a lot of time making money. The tough time comes when you have to give it away properly.' How to give something back, that's the tough part in life.

I have always found that if I move with seventy-five percent or more of the facts that I usually never regret it. It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy.

The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better.

Any supervisor worth his salt would rather deal with people who attempt too much than with those who try too little.

If you own up to your mistakes, you don't suffer as much. But that's a tough lesson to learn.

What is it that you like doing? If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it.

The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything if you want to succeed in business--or almost anywhere else for that matter.

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

The affections are like lightning: you cannot tell where they will strike till they have fallen.

Greenmail, in case you're wondering, is when a company pays a raider a premium for his holdings-if he'll go away. What I think it really is is blackmail in a pin-striped suit.

A country's competitiveness starts not on the factory floor or in the engineering lab. It starts in the classroom.

If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.

When the product is right, you don't have to be a great marketer.

A good deal is a state of mind.

Bad times are indelible. They stay with you forever.

Why is our free-enterprise system so strong?- Not because it stands still, frozen in the past, but because it has always adapted to changing realities

There's a billboard in a little farm town in the Midwest that says: IF YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT FARMERS, DON'T TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL.

A guy named Charlie Beacham was my first mentor at Ford. He taught me the importance of the dealers, and he rubbed my nose in the retail business.

People want economy, and they'll pay any price to get it.

There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog, waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there.

The cement in our whole democracy today is the worker who makes $ 15 an hour. He's the guy who will buy a house and a car and a refrigerator. He's the oil in the engine.

That's the American way. If little kids don't aspire to make money like I did, what the hell good is this country?

Life can be difficult for kids born with a gold spoon in their mouth, because they never really get to find out if they're able to work hard and make it on their own.

Every business and every product has risks. You can't get around it.

If a guy is over 25 percent jerk, he's in trouble. And Henry was 95 percent.

I guess I invented extended warranties, because that's all we had to sell at Chrysler in those days.

Styling cars sells cars and safety does not.

Thanks to properly selecting the clients you will not be unnecessarily wasting time.

Never rest on your oars as a boss. If you do, the whole company starts sinking.

The primary skill of a manager consists of knowing how to make assignments and picking the right people to carry out those assignments

I guess that's one achievement I'm really proud of. Saving Chrysler was more than jobs, more than shareholder value. Saving Chrysler was a good idea for the whole country.

It was emotional when Chrysler sold out to the Germans.

I learned that monthly payments are the cornerstone of everything in the automobile business.

Chrysler builds great cars.

If your product is great, you yourself do not have to be a great seller.

They're on you day and night. Their oversight is just too extreme [. . .] That's why our 10-year loan, we paid it back in three years. We couldn't stand the government. The bureaucracy kills you.

In the great undertakings, there is glory, even in failure.

Incompetency begets incompetency. The last thing a guy who isn't sure of himself wants is a guy backing him up who is sure of himself.

Get all the education you can then go out and do something - do anything.

I was good friends with Frank Sinatra, I heard Steve Kaufman painting his portrait, so I asked Steve to paint my portrait.