181 Quotes by Thomas J. Watson

Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.” — Thomas J. Watson

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.

To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business and your business in your heart.

If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer.

Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people.

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity.

Every time we've moved ahead in IBM, it was because someone was willing to take a chance, put his head on the block, and try something new.

Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?