There'll always be serendipity involved in discovery.

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.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

This city belongs to ghosts, to murderers, to sleepwalkers. Where are you, in what bed, in what dream?

It is only dogs that never bite their masters.

All my life I’ve lived a beautiful lie. The governor’s son with the bright future set for him. The middle child. The one who no one knew how bad he was suffering until it made the nightly news.

I'm devious, cruel, cunning and addictive.

Break in the sun till the sun breaks down, And death shall have no dominion.

I think I'd want to have an affair with a Montgomery but marry a Taggert.

Most great learning happens in groups. Collaboration is the stuff of growth.

A little bit of attention can go a long way.

[President-elect George W] Bush has reached out to these other groups like Blacks and Hispanics.... He ought to do his reaching out to the people who elected him.