Invention is by its very nature disruptive. If you want to be understood at all times, then don't do anything new.

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.

Be so strong that no one can ignore you. By blaming others you never win, but you do lose to your conscience again and again.

Women are wired to take on others’ needs. Own your role in stress, establishing boundaries on what you can reasonably accomplish within your current bandwidth and reduce your stress load.

Don't tell me about the pain. Show me the baby.

I'm the football coach around here and don't you remember it.

Try to find like-minded people. Don't choose your friends based on the outside, choose your friends based on your similar views or something that you can learn from.

How shall we praise the magnificence of the dead, The great man humbled, the haughty brought to dust?

For me, painting means the continuation of dreaming by other means.

The past cannot remember the past. The future can't generate the future. The cutting edge of the instant right here and now is always nothing less than the totality of everything there is.

I don't want to go to the heaven that I learned about when I was a kid. To me, it seems boring.

But between sets I'd sneak over to the black places to hear blues musicians. It got to the point where I was making my living at white clubs and having my fun at the other places.