Things never go smoothly.

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.

And on the way home I thought: pity the poor in spirit who know neither the enchantment nor the beauty of language.

... as a reminder that a white man could still kill him for nothing.

When I come home, I'm not a basketball player, but "dad". While everyone sees me as an NBA player, to my boys, I'm just "dad" and that's very important.

Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit.

Taking your first title is much more complicated and more difficult; it takes years of work - from go-kart to Formula One. The second comes more easily, because you've already got the experience.

Every tomorrow is determined by every today.

The heroes of literary history have been no less remarkable for what they have suffered than for what they have achieved.

Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession -a property entirely our own.

A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, That to the sleeping woods all night Singeth a quiet tune.

I tend to play covers when I'm gearing up for creating new song. Singing other people's songs is a way that I get inspired.