American industrialist & Amazon founder (1964- )
Our culture is friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we'll settle for intense.
JEFF BEZOS
Forbes, April 23, 2012
You gotta earn your keep in this world. When you invent something new, if customers come to the party, it's disruptive to the old way.
JEFF BEZOS
60 Minutes, December 1, 2013
Teachers, who are really good create that environment where you can be very satisfied by the process of learning. If you do something and you find it a very satisfying experience then you want to do more of it. The great teachers somehow convey in their very attitude and their words and their actions and everything they do that this is an important thing you're learning. You end up wanting to do more of it and more of it and more of it. That's a real talent some people have to convey the importance of that and to reflect it back to the students.
JEFF BEZOS
Academy of Achievement interview, May 4, 2001
The Internet is disrupting every media industry ... you know, people can complain about that, but complaining is not a strategy. And Amazon is not happening to book selling, the future is happening to book selling.
JEFF BEZOS
60 Minutes, December 1, 2013
I think we live in a multi-device world. You're gonna have a tablet computer. Like an iPad or one of it's competitors. You're gonna have a smart phone. You're gonna have a laptop. You know, the tablet computer isn't going to displace the laptop because there are times when you want to write a long memo or a long email message or an article ... if you want to sit down and read a 300 page book, the kindle is the perfect device.
JEFF BEZOS
Charlie Rose interview, Jul. 28, 2010
We are willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.
JEFF BEZOS
Forbes, April 23, 2012
If you go back in time 18 years, I was driving the packages to the post office myself, and we were very primitive.
JEFF BEZOS
60 Minutes, December 1, 2013
I don't think that you can invent on behalf of customers unless you're willing to think long-term, because a lot of invention doesn't work. If you're going to invent, it means you're going to experiment, and if you're going to experiment, you're going to fail, and if you're going to fail, you have to think long term.
JEFF BEZOS
GeekWire, September 17, 2013
Earth is the best planet in our solar system. We go to space to save Earth.
JEFF BEZOS
Twitter, April 22, 2018
We like to pioneer, we like to explore, we like to go down dark alleys and see what's on the other side.
JEFF BEZOS
60 Minutes, December 1, 2013
Communication is a sign of dysfunction. It means people aren't working together in a close, organic way. We should be trying to figure out ways for teams to communicate less with each other, not more.
JEFF BEZOS
attributed, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy -- they're given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you're not careful, and if you do, it'll probably be to the detriment of your choices.
JEFF BEZOS
graduation speech at Princeton University, 2010
If you're customer-focused, you're always waking up wondering, how can we make that customer say, wow? We want to impress our customers -- we want them to say, wow. That kind of divine discontent comes from observing customers and noticing that things can always be better.
JEFF BEZOS
GeekWire, September 17, 2013
If you double the number of experiments you do per year you're going to double your inventiveness.
JEFF BEZOS
Inc., May 7, 2014
If you decide that you're going to do only the things you know are going to work, you're going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table.
JEFF BEZOS
Inc., May 7, 2014
If you absolutely can't tolerate critics, then don't do anything new or interesting.
JEFF BEZOS
bOinGbOinG, June 1, 2016
A company shouldn't get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn't last.
JEFF BEZOS
Business Insider, July 16, 2015
We have these cultural norms, and we allow people to say ugly things. We don't have to like it, we don't have to invite them to our dinner parties, but you should let them say it.
JEFF BEZOS
bOinGbOinG, June 1, 2016
Wandering is an essential counterbalance to efficiency.
JEFF BEZOS
The Atlantic, November 2019
I think. I remember the very first occupation I wanted to be -- when, I think, I was about six years old -- was an archeologist. I would like to point out this was before Indiana Jones. It's a point of pride. Then I wanted to be an astronaut. By the time I was in my high school years, I wanted to be a physicist and then by the time I got to college I wanted to be a computer programmer. That's actually what I studied in school and that's what has led me along the path I'm on.
JEFF BEZOS
Academy of Achievement interview, May 4, 2001