If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.

A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.

The common question that gets asked in business is, why? That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, why not?

We can't be in survival mode. We have to be in growth mode.

What we want to be is something completely new. There is no physical analog for what Amazon.com is becoming.

One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don't choose your passions; your passions choose you.

If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.

It's hard to find things that won't sell online.

Everything you are comes from your choices.

A company shouldn't get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn't last.

We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and thy're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.

How much energy they put into harming each other. How little into saving.

The ability to find pixilation amid the pixelation is at the essence of the gift of celestial Grace.

Has your heartbeat ever been so loud it sounded like voices in your ears?

Aim high, hit high.

As far as a career legacy, I just want to be known as the guy everyone had to watch for, constantly.

I may not be in control of anything else, but I am in control of my body.

If I was Simon Cowell for a day, I’d buy a bouncy castle, and jump on it. Then…pour ketchup on myself!

Parting day Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues With a new colour as it gasps away, The last still loveliest, till-'t is gone, and all is gray.

He who says patience, says courage, endurance, strength.

You will never see President Bachmann step one toe out of the United States and apologize for this country.