100 Jeff Bezos Quotes: On Business, Innovation, and Bold Thinking
- The Finest List Maker
- Oct 4, 2025
- 5 min read
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, has become one of the most influential figures in modern business. Whether he's speaking about entrepreneurship, customer obsession, or the future of space travel, his words often blend ambition, strategy, and deep insight. These 100 Jeff Bezos quotes offer powerful lessons in leadership, decision-making, and thinking long term.
Table of Contents
Famous Jeff Bezos Quotes
Short Jeff Bezos Quotes
Quotes About Business Strategy
Quotes About Innovation and Risk
Quotes About Customers
Quotes on Leadership and People
Quotes About Failure and Resilience
Quotes on Long-Term Thinking
Quotes About Technology and the Future
Funny and Candid Jeff Bezos Quotes
1. Famous Jeff Bezos Quotes
“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
“We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details.”
“If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you’re going to double your inventiveness.”
“One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.”
“It’s not an experiment if you know it’s going to work.”
“What’s dangerous is not to evolve.”
“Obsess over customers, not competitors.”
“A company shouldn’t get addicted to being shiny because shiny doesn’t last.”
“Work hard, have fun, make history.”
“If you only do things where you know the answer in advance, your company goes away.”
2. Short Jeff Bezos Quotes
“In the end, we are our choices.”
“Life’s too short to hang out with people who aren’t resourceful.”
“Be afraid of our customers, because those are the folks who have the money.”
“There are two kinds of companies. Those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less.”
“Complaining is not a strategy.”
“We like to invent. We like to pioneer.”
“We are willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”
“The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you.”
“Keep our competitors focused on us while we stay focused on the customer.”
“Focus on the long term.”
3. Quotes About Business Strategy
“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts.”
“If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.”
“If you want to be inventive, you have to be willing to fail.”
“Our job is to invent new options that nobody’s ever thought of before.”
“There are no extra points for growing headcount, budget size, or fixed expense.”
“We can’t be in survival mode. We have to be in growth mode.”
“The key is to set realistic customer expectations and then not just to meet them, but to exceed them—preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.”
“Our culture is friendly and intense, but if push comes to shove we’ll settle for intense.”
“In business, what’s dangerous is not to evolve.”
“Make decisions with 70 percent of the information you wish you had.”
4. Quotes About Innovation and Risk
“We are willing to go down blind alleys and see what happens.”
“We innovate by starting with the customer and working backwards.”
“I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.”
“You have to be willing to fail. That’s how you learn.”
“Failure comes part and parcel with invention.”
“We take risks all the time, we talk about failure.”
“We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy them.”
“If you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution.”
“We can't be in survival mode, we have to be in growth mode.”
“Invention requires a long-term willingness to be misunderstood.”
5. Quotes About Customers
“The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer.”
“Focusing on the customer makes a company more resilient.”
“If you do build a great experience, customers will tell each other about it.”
“Your margin is my opportunity.”
“The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you.”
“We will continue to focus relentlessly on our customers.”
“Every day is Day 1.”
“Good customer service is not just about solving problems, but creating delight.”
“If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will.”
“We start with the customer and work backwards.”
6. Quotes on Leadership and People
“Leaders have relentlessly high standards.”
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”
“Leaders are right a lot. They have strong judgment and good instincts.”
“Hire and develop the best.”
“If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting.”
“Great leaders are never done learning.”
“Leadership is about being relentless in your pursuit of the goal.”
“We have a culture of high standards.”
“You earn trust slowly, over time, by doing hard things well.”
“Leaders think long term.”
7. Quotes About Failure and Resilience
“Failure and invention are inseparable twins.”
“If you never want to be criticized, don’t do anything.”
“The great thing about fact-based decisions is that they overrule the hierarchy.”
“Resilience is one of the most important skills in business.”
“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.”
“You have to be willing to be misunderstood.”
“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.”
“Sometimes we have to plant seeds and wait patiently.”
“It’s okay to fail. You just have to be honest about it.”
“You learn more from failure than success.”
8. Quotes on Long-Term Thinking
“If we think long term, we can accomplish things that we couldn’t otherwise.”
“We’re not competitor obsessed, we’re customer obsessed. We start with what the customer needs and we work backwards.”
“It’s all about the long term.”
“Patience is a virtue in business.”
“Long-term thinking is a competitive advantage.”
“We do a lot of things quietly, because they’re long bets.”
“The long view is underappreciated in business.”
“We are building a company that will last for decades.”
“If everything you do needs to work on a three-year time horizon, then you’re competing against a lot of people.”
“We’re willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”
9. Quotes About Technology and the Future
“We are at the beginning of a golden age of AI.”
“Space is the final frontier.”
“Our descendants will move beyond Earth.”
“We need to build the infrastructure for future generations.”
“The internet is still in its infancy.”
“Every industry will be disrupted by technology.”
“The future is always closer than it seems.”
“Invention is the root of our success.”
“It’s hard to overstate how much technology will change our lives.”
“I want to go to space to help build a road to space.”
10. Funny and Candid Jeff Bezos Quotes
“We’re not in the business of selling books. We’re in the business of helping people buy books.”
“I didn’t think I’d be this bald.”
“People who are right a lot listen a lot.”
“We like big ideas that seem crazy.”
“You have to lean into the future.”
“My view is there’s no bad time to innovate.”
“It helps to base your strategy on things that won’t change.”
“I’m not in it for the money. I’m in it to win.”
“I think frugality drives innovation.”
“We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.”