David Ogilvy

Advertising reflects the mores of society, but it does not influence them.

It strikes me as bad manners for a magazine to accept one of my advertisements and then attack it editorially – like inviting a man to dinner then spitting in his eye.

There are very few men of genius in advertising agencies. But we need all we can find. Almost without exception they are disagreeable. Don’t destroy them. They lay golden eggs.

I always said that mega-mergers were for megalomaniacs.

If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.

If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.

Everything I do in life is framed through the view of a businessman. That’s my instinct. If I go into a pharmacy to buy shaving cream, then I’m going to look for the best deal on shaving cream.

Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules, you learn by doing and by falling over.

Burdening people with debt is an old deal not a new deal.

Ridiculous yachts and private planes and big limousines won’t make people enjoy life more, and it sends out terrible messages to the people who work for them. It would be so much better if that money was spent in Africa – and it’s about getting a balance.

Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change.

Some people have so much respect for their superiors they have none left for themselves.

First and foremost, I’m a real estate person. And that’s what I love the most.

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

I think I’ve got the best staff in television.

Should I give up my career at this point in my life… and put all my marbles in Laura’s [Nyro] basket?

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Edison, to a greater extent than has ever been recognized, is the father of American industrial methods.

If you need a machine and don’t buy it, then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it and don’t have it.

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