Most people are looking for security, a nice, safe, prosperous future. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s called the American Dream.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: America
The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Family
People want economy and they’ll pay almost any price to get it.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Business
You’ve got to say, “I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it.” It’s called perseverance.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Persistence, Perseverance
People say to me, “You were a roaring success. How did you do it?” I go back to what my parents taught me. Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make something happen.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Performance, Action
When the product is right, you don’t have to be a great marketer.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Business
The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Action
Management is nothing more than motivating other people.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Leadership, Management
My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Great, Friend, Life, Friends and Friendship, Friends
Boys, there ain’t no free lunches in this country. And don’t go spending your whole life commiserating that you got the raw deals. You’ve got to say, “I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it.” It’s called perseverance.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Persistence, Perseverance
The trick is to make sure you don’t die waiting for prosperity to come.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Money
We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay it back.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Fashion, Debt
The one word that makes a good manager—decisiveness.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Management
The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they’re expected to do—they always reach.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Excellence
I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you’re trying to accomplish and what you’re willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Honesty
In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Adversity, Stress
In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Responsibility
If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.
—Lee Iacocca
In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product and profits. Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Business
I learned about the strength you can get from a close family life. I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Determination, Discipline, Bad Times, Perseverance
Every business and every product has risks. You can’t get around it.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Business
The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Time Management, Concentration, Value of Time
We load up on oat bran in the morning so we’ll live forever. Then we spend the rest of the day living like there’s no tomorrow.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Eating
There comes a time when you’ve got to say, “Let’s get off our asses and go …” I have always found that if I move with 75 percent or more of the facts I usually never regret it. It’s the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Facts, Decisions
No matter what you’ve done for yourself or for humanity, if you can’t look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Accomplishment
You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.
—Lee Iacocca
I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Leadership
I’ve always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Advice, Leadership, Leaders
Any supervisor worth his salt would rather deal with people who attempt too much than with those who try too little.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Work, Trying
You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.
—Lee Iacocca
Topics: Action
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Henry J. Kaiser American Industrialist
- Henry Ford American Businessperson
- Charles M. Schwab American Businessperson
- Jack Welch American Businessperson
- Jeffrey Immelt American Businessperson
- Bill Gates American Businessperson
- Michael Dell American Businessperson
- Andrew Grove Hungarian-born American Businessperson
- Anne M. Mulcahy American Businessperson
- W. Clement Stone American Self-help Guru
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