Business Ethics Quotes

If ethics are poor at the top, that behavior is copied down through the organization. ~ Robert Noyce

Having George W. Bush giving a lecture on business ethics is like having a leper give you a facial, it just doesn't work! ~ Robin Williams

Participant (Productions) is the only production company in town that has a double bottom line: social good plus financial returns. It's too early to tell how our returns are going to look - though all signs are promising - but social good is what we're really after. ~ Jeffrey Skoll

I charge my clients for my time and expertise, my heart is free. ~ Saurabh Gupta

We live in a world where there are a hell of a lot of new inputs that need to be factored in to your business. It used to be just about your employees and your customers. Now there are all the issues about global warming, about sustainability, about ethics and now about gender and the distribution of wealth. ~ Stuart Rose

In just about every gangster movie there is a scene where the mob boss says, 'Hey, I'm just a businessman. ~ William Hageman

Business ethics has always had problems that are distinct from those of other professions, such as medicine, law, engineering, dentistry, or nursing. ~ Peter Singer

The question is where are business ethics and morality if one of the parties wants to dishonor a binding contract, just because in retrospect it realizes it could perhaps have got a better price! ~ Anil Ambani

It is a commonplace executive observation that businesses exist to make money, and the observation is usually allowed to go unchallenged. It is, however, a very limited statement about the purposes of business ~ Daniel Katz

Living up to your commitments is part of business ethics. My word is my bond. ~ Isadore Sharp

Economics and ethics are not mutually exclusive. ~ Lionel Tiger

And now they were weary and frightened because they had gone against a system they did not understand and it had beaten them. They knew that the team and the wagon were worth much more. They knew the buyer man would get much more, but they didn't know how to do it. Merchandising was a secret to them. ~ John Steinbeck

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings. ~ Albert Schweitzer

If you build that foundation, both the moral and the ethical foundation, as well as the business foundation, and the experience foundation, then the building won't crumble. ~ Henry Kravis

A new model of heroic capitalism based on principle-driven, free-market entrepreneurship deserves a central place in business-ethics thought and action. ~ Robert L. Bradley, Jr.

We don't think of ourselves as do-gooders or altruists. It's just that somehow we're trying our best to be run with some sense of moral compass even in a business environment that is growing. ~ Craig Newmark

There's no such thing as business ethics; there's just ethics. And ethics makes no concessions for the real or imagined necessities of making a profit. ~ Michael Josephson

The ethics of journalism are one thing. Another thing is the ethics of business. ~ Adam Michnik

Ben Franklin said:
"Early to bed and early to rise
Make a man healthy wealthy and wise"
Lately I have read the advice given to William Randolph Hearst, when a young man, by his father:
"Go downtown at noon and rob the other fellows of what they have made during the morning. ~ E. Haldeman-Julius

Economics without ethics is a caricature. Ethics without economics is a fairy tale. ~ Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski

Using the phrase business ethics might imply that the ethical rules and expectations are somehow different in business than in other contexts. There really is no such thing as business ethics. There is just ethics and the challenge for people in business and every other walk in life to acknowledge and live up to basic moral principles like honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness and caring. ~ Michael Josephson

There is no such thing as business ethics. There is only one kind
you have to adhere to the highest standards. ~ Marvin Bower

The worlds I paint leave a lot to engage the imagination by hinting at what lies beyond the four edges of the painting. I think getting beyond the four edges of an opportunity or challenge is one of the basic skills you need in business. ~ Thomas Kinkade

Building a business is not rocket science, it's about having a great idea and seeing it through with integrity. ~ Richard Branson

There's more than one thing I can't do and there are a lot more things than that that you can't do or you wouldn't be in the newspaper business. You'd be a jockey and a scholar and a connoisseur of femininity like I am ~ Laura Hillenbrand

Don't build a team that will fuel your 'ego'. Build a team that has the skills, desire & passion for fueling the 'vision'. ~ Yvonne Pierre

One thing I learned early on in the news business is that a good story requires a reporter and photographer working together. Teamwork. ~ Jim Heath

After working for 14 years on Wall Street and growing up in a family with strong roots in small business, I know how important the entrepreneurial spirit is to attaining the American dream. ~ Ellen Tauscher

Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing ... layout, processes, and procedures. ~ Tom Peters

Has Obama ever grown even a potted plant, much less a business, a bank, a hospital or any of the numerous other institutions whose decisions he wants to control and override? But he can talk glibly about growing the economy. Arrogance is no substitute for experience. That is why the country is in the mess it is in now. ~ Thomas Sowell

A woman's two cents worth is worth two cents in the music business. ~ Loretta Lynn

Very big business is in bed with very big government in Washington, and has more to do with what the average person sees, hears and reads than most people know. ~ Dan Rather

The animals themselves are incapable of demanding their own liberation, or of protesting against their condition with votes, demonstrations, or bombs. Human beings have the power to continue to oppress other species forever, or until we make this planet unsuitable for living beings. Will our tyranny continue, proving that we really are the selfish tyrants that the most cynical of poets and philosophers have always said we are? Or will we rise to the challenge and prove our capacity for genuine altruism by ending our ruthless exploitation of the species in our power, not because we are forced to do so by rebels or terrorists, but because we recognize that our position is morally indefensible? The way in which we answer this question depends on the way in which each one of us, individually, answers it. ~ Peter Singer

Tonight was a great opportunity to take on the political status quo that has given us trillion dollar deficits and put millions out of work. Our objective was to inject some common sense into the conversation among Republicans at a time when business-as-usual simply won't work. ~ Gary Johnson

Our fight was not for ownership of a fertile piece of land. It was about defending the sanctity of ethics and fairness and dignity --- about defending humanity. Those are the values worth fighting for. If we forsake those very values in war, we become the very thing we are fighting against. We become them. Then what do we have left to fight for? ~ Shatrujeet Nath

His dream is to one day be a famous Broadway star, but he says he lacks the ability to sing or act, so he's scaling down his dream and applying to business school, instead. ~ Colleen Hoover

The way you react to challenging situations will say a lot about you. Actually, it will make or break your business. ~ Cendrine Marrouat

You should treat your marriage like a business that you wouldn't want to let fail. I'm a big advocate of therapy and third-party intervention. ~ Lisa Ling

In 'The General Strike,' we celebrate those who bring a new vision for the world to the table. People who stand for workers rights, human rights, a just representative political system, and a new mode of doing business where sustainability is the norm not the exception. ~ Justin Sane

The illustrious and noble ought to place before them certain rules and regulations, not less for their hours of leisure and relaxation than for those of business. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

A person that doesn't read and doesn't have any ethics complaining about a writer feels like a Chihuahua barking at a Rottweiler. ~ Robin Sacredfire

An unhappy marriage is neither your business nor your concern. ~ Anthony Riches

The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life. ~ Albert Einstein

At last, Sturmhond straightened the lapels of his teal frock coat and said, "Well, Brekker, it's obvious you only deal in half-truths and outright lies, so you're clearly the man for the job."
"There's just one thing," said Kaz, studying the privateer's broken nose and ruddy hair. "Before we join hands and jump off a cliff together, I want to know exactly who I'm running with."
Sturmhond lifted a brow. "We haven't been on a road trip or exchanged clothes, but I think our introductions were civilized enough."
"Who are you really, privateer?"
"Is this an existential question?"
"No proper thief talks the way you do."
"How narrow-minded of you."
"I know the look of a rich man's son, and I don't believe a king would send an ordinary privateer to handle business this sensitive."
"Ordinary," scoffed Sturmhond. "Are you so schooled in politics?"
"I know my way around a deal. Who are you? We get the truth or my crew walks."
"Are you so sure that would be possible, Brekker? I know your plans now. I'm accompanied by two of the world's most legendary Grisha, and I'm not too bad in a fight either."
"And I'm the canal rat who brought Kuwei Yul-Bo out of the Ice Court alive. Let me know how you like your chances." His crew didn't have clothes or titles to rival the Ravkans, but Kaz knew where he'd put his money if he had any left.
Sturmhond clasped his hands behind his back, and Kaz saw the barest shift in his demeanor. ~ Leigh Bardugo

The beautiful lie is, however, also the essence of kitsch. Kitsch is a form of make-believe, a form of deception. It is an alternative to a daily reality that would otherwise be a spiritual vacuum. . . . Kitsch replaces ethics with aesthetics. . . . Nazism was the ultimate expression of kitsch, of its mind-numbing, death-dealing portent. Nazism, like kitsch, masqueraded as life; the reality of both was death. The Third Reich was the creation of "kitsch men," people who confused the relationship between life and art, reality and myth, and who regarded the goal of existence as mere affirmation, devoid of criticism, difficulty, insight. ~ Modris Eksteins

When your mind is clear, action is focused. ~ Lisa A. Mininni

Explaining the unknown should be left to science, questions of good and bad behavior can be answered by ethics, and inspiration is often found in the arts. There's no longer a need for the social construct of religion. ~ David G. McAfee

Rule number one: your accounts must always present a true and factual picture of your business operations.' 'And what's the other rule?' asked Arvind. 'Rule number two is to occasionally forget rule number one. ~ Ashwin Sanghi

You must question a code of ethics that never impedes your progress. ~ Robert Breault

Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward! ~ Thomas A. Edison

Man is now a new animal, a new and different animal; he can jump a hundred miles, see through brick walls, bombard atoms, analyse the stars, set about his business with the strength of a million horses. And so forth and so on. Yes. Yes. But all the same he goes on behaving like the weak little needy ape he used to be. He grabs, snarls, quarrels, fears, stampedes, and plays in his immense powder magazine until he seems likely to blow up the whole damned show. ~ H.G.Wells

The reality is that most companies are not about any values at all - they are about making money. It is extremely rare for a business to stand for anything because most businesses don't want to alienate potential customers, and if you believe in anything you are going to alienate someone. ~ Jerry Greenfield

Today, in the Twenty-First Century, an age of jet aircraft, personal computers, wireless telecommunications, laser surgery, and incipient space travel, the mentality with which many presumably educated, intelligent people approach matters of economics and business is, however astonishing it may seem, still that of the Dark Ages. ~ George Reisman