David Geffen

I’ve always thought that each person invented himself for whatever reasons, for whatever circumstances, through whatever he has gone through, that we are each a figment of our own imagination. And some people have a greater ability to imagine than others.

No one’s asked me. If somebody felt there was a job I could actually do I would consider it — not out of any ambition to be in Washington, but I do want to rise to the occasion of serving there if warranted.

I don’t care what their [Guns N’ Roses] record is. If you need a blood donor and the only person who can give you a transfusion is Hitler, you take the blood.

It isn’t about how tall you are or how good-looking you are or whether or not you can play football. It’s about whether you can create a relationship.

Steve Jobs didn’t give a shit about money, and I do give a shit about money. I wanted to have a lot of money. I thought it would change my life, which it did, but not in the ways I expected.

We all acquire damage as infants and children and we work on removing those scars all of our lives. You won’t heal everything, but what’s important is the work.

If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn’t have a job if he was any smarter.

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

It’s a new endeavour for me. I’ve never run a territory. I’ve never talked publicly to people. I’ve got to try it just to see whether I like it.

In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits. Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two.

It’s all too easy to miss out on the important moments in life because you’re too busy staring at your phone.

I must have had a dozen jobs and I got fired from all of them.

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

A brand is two words: the ‘Promise’ you telegraph, and the ‘Experience’ you deliver.

My friends are people who like building cool stuff. We always have this joke about people who want to just start companies without making something valuable. There’s a lot of that in Silicon Valley.

Listen more than you talk. Nobody learned anything by hearing themselves speak.

Building a mission and building a business go hand in hand. The primary thing that excites me is the mission. But we have always had a healthy understanding that we need to do both.

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

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.

Leverage: don’t make deals without it!

I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.