How to Succeed: 56 Quotes About Business Execution

The longer I am in and around business, the more I value execution.  Simply put execution is coordinated action that propels you toward your desired result.  

I bet you can think of several examples of excellent execution. You can probably find far more examples of failure to execute.  

The quotes included in the article were selected to inspire you to execute against your business plans and your life goals.  Enjoy these 56 quotes about execution.

Innovation is rewarded. Execution is worshipped.

Dan Gilbert

As of this second, quit doing less than excellent work.

Thomas J. Watson

Execution is the ability to mesh strategy with reality, align people with goals, and achieve the promised results.

Lawrence Bossidy

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them.  They went out and happened to things.

Leonardo Da Vinci

If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.

Mario Andretti

What you do has far greater impact than what you say.

Stephen Covey

Greatness is more than potential. It is the execution of that potential. Beyond the raw talent. You need the appropriate training. You need the discipline. You need the inspiration. You need the drive.

Eric A. Burns

Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.

Winston Churchill

It’s attention to detail that makes the difference between average and stunning.

Francis Atterbury

Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.

President Calvin Coolidge

We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.

Archilochus

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.  Knowing is not enough; we must apply.  Being willing is not enough; we must do.

Leonardo Da Vinci

The way to get started and to begin is doing.

Walt Disney

To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

Steve Jobs

No excuses. No explanation. You don’t win on emotion. You win on execution.

Tony Dungy

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Epictetus

Those who let things happen usually lose to those who make things happen.

Dave Weinbaum

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.

Benjamin Franklin

The beginning is the most important part of the work.

Plato

There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas; what’s missing is the will to execute them.

Seth Godin

Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise counsel keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution.

Chanakya

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.

Napoleon Hill

Conditions are never perfect. ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you…If it’s important to you and you want to do it ‘eventually’ just do it and correct course along the way.

Tim Ferriss

When all is said and done, more is said than done.

Lou Holtz

What we do now echoes in eternity.

Marcus Aurelius

Don’t think, just do.

Horace

Ideas are yesterday, execution is today, and excellence will see you into tomorrow.

Julian Hall

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

President Thomas Jefferson

The most effective way to do it is to do it.

Amelia Earhart

Ideation without execution is delusion.

Robin S. Sharma

A year from now you will wish you had started today.

Karen Lamb

I have never encountered an executive who remains effective while tackling more than two tasks at a time.

Peter F. Drucker

The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be.

John C. Maxwell

The thing that keeps a business ahead of the competition is excellence in execution.

Tom Peters

It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.

Henry Ford

Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.

Pablo Picasso

What is not started will never get finished.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Complexity is the enemy of execution.

Tony Robbins

Knowledge, if it does not determine action, is dead to us.

Plotinus

The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.

Rob Kalin

Life is not a spectator sport.

Jackie Robinson

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.

Vince Lombardi

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

Elanor Roosevelt

Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.

Babe Ruth

Don’t be afraid to give up the good and go for the great.

Steve Prefontaine

Don’t wait until you are ready to take action, take action to be ready.

Jensen Siaw 

You must not only aim right but draw the bow with all your might.

Henry David Thoreau

Readied and waiting.  The readiness is all.

William Shakespeare

Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument.

Desmond Tutu

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

Mark Twain

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.  Wishing is not enough; we must do.

Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

John Wooden

What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.

Aristotle

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strives to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

President Theodore Roosevelt

Thanks for reviewing these excellent quotes about executing in business.  Which quote was most valuable to you?  Leave a comment to let me know.

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Make it a great day!