Phil Knight Quotes

“Any building is a temple if you make it so.”

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

“Fight not to win, but to avoid losing. A surefire losing strategy.”

“How can I leave my mark on the world, I thought, unless I get out there first and see it?”

“I told her that I flat-out didn’t want to work for someone else. I wanted to build something that was my own, something I could point to and say: I made that. It was the only way I saw to make life meaningful.”

“I’d tell men and women in their midtwenties not to settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what that means, seek it. If you’re following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt.”

“Let everyone else call your idea crazy . . . just keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t even think about stopping until you get there, and don’t give much thought to where “there” is. Whatever comes, just don’t stop.”

“Life is growth. You grow or you die.”

“Like it or not, life is a game.”

“Somebody may beat me—but they’re going to have to bleed to do it.”

“That’s the nature of money. Whether you have it or not, whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, it will try to define your days. Our task as human beings is not to let it.”

“The best way to reinforce your knowledge of a subject is to share it.”

“The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.”

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. ”

“The single easiest way to find out how you feel about someone. Say goodbye.”

“Those who urge entrepreneurs to never give up are charlatans. Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop.”

“When you see only problems, you’re not seeing clearly.”

“Why is it always so hard to get started?”

“You are remembered for the rules you break.”

“You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you.”