A biography for Sam Waltonhasn’t been written yet.
“I don't know what would have happened to Wal-Mart if we had laid low and never stirred up the competition. My guess is that we would have remained a strictly regional operator.”
“One person seeking glory doesn't accomplish very much.”
“Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.”
“Exceed your customer's expectations. If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want - and a little more.”
“I learned this early on in the variety business: You've got to give folks responsibility, you've got to trust them, and then you've got to check on them.”
“I got into retailing because I wanted a real job.”
“Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.”
“What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce?”
“High expectations are the key to everything.”
“I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.”
“You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.”
“Capital isn't scarce; vision is.”
“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.”
“Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up.”
“All that hullabaloo about somebody's net worth is just stupid, and it's made my life a lot more complex and difficult.”
“If everybody is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly in the opposite direction.”