“I saw opportunity appear in an ugly six-spindle shake machine … and grabbed it.”

When times are bad is when you want to build! Why wait for things to pick up so everything will cost more?

You’re only as good as the people you hire.

If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I think I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic Ocean with them.

I was never much of a reader when I was a boy. Books bored me. I liked action. But I spent a lot of time thinking about things. I’d imagine all kinds of situations and how I would handle them.

We take the hamburger business more seriously than anyone else.

There’s a lot more future in hamburgers than in baseball.

Tomorrow at sunrise I shall no longer be here.

Customers tend to avoid a restaurant that’s going aswamp in its own sludge.

Nothing in the world can one imagine beforehand,not the least thing,everything is made up of so many unique particulars that cannot be forseen.

If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.

None of Us is as Good as All of Us.

The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.

You must perfect every fundamental of your business if you expect it to perform well.

McDonald’s is a people business, and that smile on that counter girl’s face when she takes your order is a vital part of our image.

The key to success is being in the right place at the right time, recognizing that you are there, and taking action!

The first dollar is the most you will get if you don’t love what you are doing.

Positiveness is a good quality for preachers and speakers because, whoever shares his thoughts with the public will convince them as he himself appears convinced.

Bright as does the morning star appear, Out of the east with flaming locks bedight, To tell the dawning day is drawing near.

To be thought rich is as good as to be rich.

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.

And wisdom is a butterfly And not a gloomy bird of prey.

The soul gives unity to what it looks at with love.

I like skiing and surfing with kids. They are the cutest little skiers out there, in their little outfits. I just want to eat ’em up!