Sam Walton Quotations

Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish.

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

We let folks know we're interested in them and that they're vital to us. cause they are.

Maybe I was born to be a merchant, maybe it was fate. I don't know about that. But I know this for sure: I loved retail from the very beginning.

Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom.

You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.

The key to success is to get out into the store and listen to what the associates have to say. It's terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys.

The way management treats associates is exactly how the associates will treat the customers.

All that hullabaloo about somebody's net worth is just stupid, and it's made my life a lot more complex and difficult,

Celebrate your successes. Find some humor in your failures.

If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you - like a fever.

Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community.

All of us profit from being corrected - if we're corrected in a positive way.

I learned this early on in the variety business: You've got to give folks responsibility, you've got to trust them, and then you've got to check on them.

Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage.

I don't know what would have happened to Wal-Mart if we had laid low and never stirred up the competition. My guess is that we would have remained a strictly regional operator.

If everybody is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly in the opposite direction.

What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce?

I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anybody in America. I am just trying to get ideas, any kind of ideas that will help our company. Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.

I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they've been.

Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up.

Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.

I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.

I've never been one to dwell on reverses.

Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.

I learned early on that one of the secrets of campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them I would call them by name, but even if I didn't I would still speak to them.

In the beginning, I was so chintzy I really didn't pay my employees well.

Give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people.

Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations.

Exceed your customer's expectations. If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want - and a little more.

One person seeking glory doesn't accomplish very much.

I got into retailing because I wanted a real job.

Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.

Celebrate your success and find humor in your failures. Dont take yourself so seriously. Loosen up and everyone around you will loosen up. Have fun and always show enthusiasm. When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song.

I still can't believe it was news that I get my hair cut at the barbershop. Where else would I get it cut? Why do I drive a pickup truck? What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce?

Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.

Do it. Try it. Fix it.

It's just paper - all I own is a pickup truck and a little Wal-Mart stock.

The job of senior management is to cultivate an environment where store managers can learn from the market and from each other.

Take the best out of everything and adapt it to your needs.

I had to get up everyday with my mind set on improving something.

Curiosity doesn't kill the cat; it kills the competition.

I've always been driven to buck the system.

There is only one boss. The customer...

There’s a lot more business out there in small town America than I ever dreamed of.

...You can make a positive out of most any negative if you work at it hard enough.

I think my constant fiddling and meddling with the status quo may have been one of my biggest contributions to the later success of Wal-Mart.

I was asked what I thought about the recession. I thought about it and decided not to take part.

Most everything I've done I've copied from somebody else.

I not only knew I wanted to go into retailing, I also knew I wanted to go into business for myself.

When all else fails, put on a costume and sing a silly song.

Capital isn't hard to find; intuition, yes.

You can learn from everybody.

It is unhealthy to marinate in your own press clippings.

I loved retail from the beginning, and I still love it today.

One thing my and mother and dad shared completely was their approach to money - they just didn't spend it.

We're all working together; that's the secret. And we'll lower the cost of living for everyone, not just in America, but we'll give the world an opportunity to see what it's like to save and have a better lifestyle, a better life for all. We're proud of what we've accomplished ; we've just begun.

I had confidence that as long as we did our work well and were good to our customers, there would be no limit to us.

I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I did that in college. I did it when I carried my papers. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them, I would call them by name, but even if I didn't I would still speak to them. Before long, I probably knew more students than anybody in the university, and they recognized me and considered me their friend.

There's absolutely no limit to what plain, ordinary, working people can accomplish if they're given the opportunity and encouragement to do their best.

I guess in all my years, what I heard more than anything else was: a mere town cannot support a discount store for very long.

After a lifetime of swimming upstream, I am convinced that one of the real secrets to Wal-mart's phenomenal success has been that very tendency.

The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want

Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitor.

You can't just keep doing what works one time, everything around you is changing. To succeed, stay out in front of change.

I learned a lesson which has stuck with me all through the years: you can learn from everybody. I didn't just learn from reading every retail publication I could get my hands on, I probably learned the most from studying what John Dunham was doing across the street

Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you you're headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long.

"Somehow over the years people have gotten the impression that Wal-Mart was...just this great idea that turned into an overnight success. But...it was an outgrowth of everything we'd been doing since [1945]...And like most overnight successes, it was about twenty years in the making."

Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Set high goals, encourage competition, and then keep score.

Capital isn't scarce; vision is.

Individuals don't win in business, teams do.

Focus on something the customer wants, and then deliver it.

Expenses should never exceed one percent of our purchases.

High expectations is the key to everything.

I'd hate to see any descendants of mine fall into the category of what I'd call 'idle rich' - a group I've never had much use for.

We're all working together; that's the secret.

The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’. They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.

It was almost as if I had a right to win. Thinking like that often seems to turn into sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Don't get so stuck in your ways that you can't change.

Lose your smile and lose your customers.

Job security lasts only as long as the customer is satisfied. Nobody owes anybody else a living.

If I had to single out one element in my life that has made a difference for me, it would be a passion to compete.

Some families sell their stocks off a little bit at a time to live high, and then - boom - somebody takes them over, and it all goes down the drain.

If you want a successful business, your people must feel that you are working for them - not that they are working for you.

Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don't become too predictable.

I've owned about 18 airplanes over the years, and I've never bought one of them new.

A computer can tell you down to the dime what you've sold, but it can never tell you how much you could have sold.

There are only four things in life that matter. The first is happiness and I'll sell you the other three for a dollar.

The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want. And really, if you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking; a pleasant shopping experience.

I'd still say that visiting the stores and listening to our folks was one of the most valuable uses of my time as an executive. But really, our best ideas usually do come from the folks in the stores. Period.

Our best ideas come from clerks and stockboys.

I believe in always having goals, and always setting them high.

I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don't know if you're born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it.

If you don't listen to your customers, someone else will.

High expectations are the key to everything.

Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.

I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment.

Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.

If one of our customers comes into the store without a smile, I'll give them one of mine.

Leaders must always put their people before themselves. If you do that, your business will take care of itself.