Leon Trotsky

The United States is not only the strongest, but also the most terrified country.

Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it.

In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.

It is unquestionably true that the need for art is not created by economic conditions. But neither is the need for food created by economics. On the contrary, the need for food and warmth creates economics.

The dynamic of revolutionary events is directly determined by swift, intense, and passionate changes in the psychology of classes which have already formed themselves before the revolution.

Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.

Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don’t make.

While I love technology and social media, a text or a tweet can never replace the real value of conversation.

[To his ex-entertainment lawyer Eric Eisner who resigned from the presidency of The David Geffen Company in 1991 just as a deal was about to be made with some Japanese] Keep your stock. [Eric sold it.]

Selling is our No. 1 job. Never get away from selling a lot of merchandise personally. The more you sell the more you learn.

As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for.

When people are ‘stung’ in false investment schemes there are three causes; greed of something for nothing; sheer inability to know their mind; or infantile trustfulness.

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.

If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.

I believe that any stock that is sold should have real value as automobile or bushel of potatoes, and stock market should be run as a vegetable market.

Workers – men and women – of all countries, place yourselves under the banner of the Fourth International. It is the banner of your approaching victory!

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.

As members of the Ford Motor organization we are engaged in the production of an article of use for the people of all countries. Our principle is to make our work as profitable for the buyer as for the seller.

I may be kindly, I am ordinarily gentle, but in my line of business I am obliged to will terribly what I will at all.

I never trust an executive who tends to pass the buck. Nor would I want to deal with him as a customer or a supplier.

No serious-minded man should have time for the mediocre in any phase of his living.