“Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience.”

Good businesses generate missions to drive their profits. Great businesses generate profits to drive their missions.

Our customers call and e-mail us to say that’s how it feels when a Zappos box arrives. And that’s how we view this company.

Open, honest communication is the best foundation for any relationship, but remember that at the end of the day it’s not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most.

I believe that there’s something interesting about anyone and everyone – you just have to figure out what that something is.

Hopefully 10 years from now people won’t even realize we started out selling shoes. They will just think about Zappos as a place to get the best customer service.

Never accept or be too comfortable with the status quo, because the companies that get into trouble are historically the ones that aren’t able to adapt to change and respond quickly enough.

To never forget that the most important thing in life is the quality of life we lead.

Success is getting to a point where you’d be truly OK with losing everything you have and starting over.

Happiness is really just about four things: perceived control, perceived progress, connectedness (number and depth of your relationships), and vision/meaning (being part of something bigger than yourself).

I thought about how easily we are all brainwashed by our society and culture to stop thinking and just assume by default that more money equals more success and more happiness, when ultimately happiness is really just about enjoying life.

Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.

Help shape the stories that people are telling about you.

If there are too many competitors, even if you’re the best it’s a lot harder to win.

Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it because you can’t deliver good service from unhappy employees.

I’d rather spend money on things that improve the customer experience than on marketing.

Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger.

If he were on fire, he couldn’t act as if he were burning. He can’t out-act me on the big screen.

After I got that hit off Satchel (Paige), I knew I was ready for the big leagues.

The Falling’ was a big, flashy, bizarre experience. I kept on saying at the time it was a fluke because I did the audition, and I didn’t think anything would come of it.

I was a big baseball player, and my passion in life, in third grade, was collecting baseball cards. That was my childhood thing.

When ordering lunch, the big executives are just as indecisive as the rest of us.

I’m not really a big X’s and O’s guy, but if you want to go there, I’m more of a space-the-floor type of coach:

But that is the only thing that slows me down is the system. No one, two or three was big enough to slow me down, only the system. It was the system that slowed me down to make my numbers fall. Not because I am older.

I’m a big softie.