James Cash Penney

Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change.

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

The keystone of successful business is cooperation. Friction retards progress.

There has never been a time when a career in the Penney Company was not a challenge that brought out the best in a man.

The Golden Rule finds no limit of application in business.

We can serve our customers well only if our buying jobs are right. You cannot sell if you haven’t ordered wanted goods into your store.

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.

I believe in benevolent dictatorship provided I am the dictator.

Machines were devised not to do a man out of a job, but to take the heavy labor from man’s back and place it on the broad back of the machine.

It’s true we’ve got some fantastic clients. We’re very fortunate to be connected with the movers and shakers of all the global cities of the world. You can usually tell when we’ve got a client in here because their bodyguards are all over the place: two outside the front door, two in the lobby, one in the lift…

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.

The headline is the ‘ticket on the meat.’ Use it to flag down readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising.

[On Laura Nyro] I said to Laura ‘You know Laura, I think we should sell your music publishing company. I think right now is the right time you have three songs in the top ten this may never happen again and I think we can get a lot of money for it.’ And I made a deal with Clive Davis to sell Tuna Fish Music for $4 million. And that was a hell of a lot of money in 1969. It made her famous, it made her rich. It got people to listen to her music with her singing.

When bankers get into business they usually destroy it.

The union organizers are asking us to sit still while it sells our men the jobs that have always been free.

Leverage: don’t make deals without it!

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.

I have no Napoleonic dream. I’m just hard working and pragmatic.

The best of merchandise will go back to the shelf unless handled by a conscientious, tactful salesman.

My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.

If your dreams don’t scare you they are too small.