“I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.”

The value of an idea lies in the using of it.

I find out what the world needs. Then I go ahead and try to invent it.

There seems to be no limit to which some men will go to avoid the labor of thinking. Thinking is hard work.

Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.

Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.

Great ideas originate in the muscles.

There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the real labor of thinking.

Continued innovation is the best way to beat the competition.

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.

I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world.

I start where the last man left off.

I am 67, but I’m not too old to make a fresh start.

Each time you fail, you have eliminated another wrong option.

I’ve realized that most of my best ideas have followed a good night’s sleep.

I have far more respect for the person with a single idea who gets there than for the person with a thousand ideas who does nothing.

Work while others are wishing.

God invented man, and man invented the metric system.

The peace that we’re after lies somewhere beyond personality, beyond the perception of others, beyond invention and disguise, even beyond effort itself.

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.

Where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

You cannot invent an algorithm that is as good at recommending books as a good bookseller.

The mere fact of photographic transposition means a total invention: the capture of a secret reality.

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.