Ross Perot on life and work
Texas billionaire and philanthropist Ross Perot (1927-2019) ran for president twice. His integrity, way with words, and can-do attitude won more public support for a third-party candidate than any election in over 100 years.
- The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.
- There are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written; and to write what is worthy of being read.
- Which one of the three candidates would you want your daughter to marry?
- The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, the public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled.
- Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they’re going to make mistakes.
- In plain Texas talk, “it’s do the right thing.”
- You don’t have to be the biggest to beat the biggest.
- Life is like a cobweb, not an organization chart.
- A weak currency is a sign of a weak economy, and a weak economy leads to a weak nation.
- Written reports stifle creativity.
- Anybody can cut prices, but it takes brains to produce a better article.
- Spend a lot of time talking to customers face to face. You’d be amazed at how many companies don’t listen to their customers.
- Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.
- Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.
- If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.
- It’s not the Republicans’ fault, of course, and it’s not the Democrats’ fault. Somewhere out there there’s an extraterrestrial that’s doing this to us, I guess.
- Failures are like skinned knees: painful but superficial.
- Revitalizing G.M. is like teaching an elephant to tap dance. It takes five years to design a new car in this country. Heck, we won World War II in four years.
- Eagles don’t flock. You have to find them one at a time.
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