James Cash Penney Quotes

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

Salesmanship is limitless. Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.

It was always my practice to train salespeople under my direct supervision, and to treat children with the utmost consideration.

I learned that all things come to those who wait-provided they hustle while they wait.

The greatest teacher I know is the job itself.

Men are not great or small because of their material possessions. They are great or small because of what they are.

The disciplined are free.

As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for.

I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life's problems.

Business is no longer a matter of profits alone. Profits must come through public confidence, and public confidence is given to any merchant in proportion to the service which he gives to the public.

In setting up a business under the name and meaning of the Golden Rule, I was publicly binding myself, in my business relations, to a principle which had been a real and intimate part of my family upbringing. Our idea was to make money and build business through serving the community with fair dealing and honest value.

Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.

Do not primarily train men to work. Train them to serve willingly and intelligently.

Selling is our No. 1 job. Never get away from selling a lot of merchandise personally. The more you sell the more you learn.

I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice - in giving a failure another chance.

The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.

A store's best advertisement is the service its goods render, for upon such service rest the future, the good-will, of an organization.

Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless.

Every great business is built on friendship.

Salesmanship, too, is an art; the perfection of its technique requires study and practice.

The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success.

No serious-minded man should have time for the mediocre in any phase of his living.

A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public well has nothing to fear from the competition.

So I come back again to the condition that the Golden Rule, if one adopts it, is a difficult master to serve. The ship's captain will not throw the compass overboard because the wind blows fair and the day is funny. For he knows, from the experiences of the ocean's instability, that the danger days of storm are always "just ahead." So the compass must always be handy and obedience to it must always be loyal. And so with the Golden Rulle - the compass must be ever at hand through life's journey. It will see us through trying times. And perhaps the most trying of all times comes when success is riding high and we may be tempted to "throw the compass overboard." It is then we must remember that all good days in human life come from the mastery of the days of trouble that are forever recurrent.

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.

There's no better friend to any merchant than a fair competitor.

No matter what his position or experience in life, there is in everyone more latent than developed ability; far more unused than used power.

It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.

It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most.

Too many would-be executives are slaves of routine.

The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.

Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.

The best way to stop a bad habit is never to begin it.

Success will always be measured by the extent to which we serve the buying public.

I am grateful for all of my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties.

Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.