Lee Iacocca Quotes

In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.

Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can't miss.

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

The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.

Management is nothing more than motivating other people.

No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?

We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

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

My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.

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

Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make it happen.

The one word that makes a good manager -- decisiveness.

I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance.

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

The one word that makes a good manager - decisiveness.

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

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

The trick is to make sure you don't die waiting for prosperity to come.

Most people are looking for security, a nice, safe, prosperous future.

And there's nothing wrong with that. It's called the American Dream.

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.

I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use.

Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have.

In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits.

The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do -- they always reach.

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

Boys, there ain't no free lunches in this country.

And don't go spending your whole life commiserating that you got the raw deals. You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it. It's called perseverance.

The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do - they always reach.

The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.

People say to me, You were a roaring success.

How did you do it? I go back to what my parents taught me. Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make something happen.

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

So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.

Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else.

One of the things the government can't do is run anything.

The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.

Talk to people in their own language.

If you do it well, they'll say, 'God, he said exactly what I was thinking.' And when they begin to respect you, they'll follow you to the death.

We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?

If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.

You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.

I've had a wonderful and successful career. But next to my family, it really hasn't mattered at all.

People want economy and they will pay any price to get it.