- All Quotes
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There'll always be serendipity involved in discovery.
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What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you - what used to be a tail wind is now a head wind - you have to lean into that and figure out what to do because complaining isn't a strategy.
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Percentage margins don't matter. What matters always is dollar margins: the actual dollar amount. Companies are valued not on their percentage margins, but on how many dollars they actually make, and a multiple of that.
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It’s very important for entrepreneurs to be realistic. So if you believe on that first day while you’re writing the business plan that there’s a 70 percent chance that the whole thing will fail, then that kind of relieves the pressure of self-doubt.
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We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.
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If you never want to be criticized, for goodness sake don't do anything new.
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You don't want to negotiate the price of simple things you buy every day.
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Above all else, align with customers. Win when they win. Win only when they win.
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I think one of the things people don't understand is we can build more shareholder value by lowering product prices than we can by trying to raise margins. It's a more patient approach, but we think it leads to a stronger, healthier company. It also serves customers much, much better.
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I don't know about you, but most of my exchanges with cashiers are not that meaningful.
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Percentage margins are not one of the things we are seeking to optimize. It’s the absolute dollar free cash flow per share that you want to maximize, and if you can do that by lowering margins, we would do that. So if you could take the free cash flow, that’s something that investors can spend. Investors can’t spend percentage margins.
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If you look at academic studies, you can see that stock prices are most closely correlated with cash flow. It's such a straightforward number. Cash flow is what will drive shareholder returns.
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Amazon.com strives to be the e-commerce destination where consumers can find and discover anything they want to buy online.
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My grandfather taught me that it is harder to be kind than it is to be clever.
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... if it's not your style to stretch and go the extra mile to make sure our customer experience is great, you're going to have an allergic reaction to this company. You probably won't stay. If you do try and stay, but can't adapt to the culture then it will reject you like a virus from a healthy immune system.
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Our alliance with Toysrus.com has proven to be a great win for customers, and we've looked forward to taking the next step by introducing the new Babiesrus.com teamed with Amazon.com store since we forged the alliance last August.
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People loved their horses, too. But you don't keep riding your horse to work just because you love it.
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I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.
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There are multiple ways to be externally focused that are very successful. You can be customer-focused or competitor-focused. Some people are internally focused, and if they reach critical mass, they can tip the whole company.
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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.
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I like having the digital camera on my smart phone, but I also like having a dedicated camera for when I want to take real pictures.
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You're not going to make Hemingway better by adding animations.
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If you invent frequently and are willing to fail, then you never get to that point where you really need to bet the whole company.
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Many of the traits that make Amazon unusual are now deeply ingrained in the culture. In fact, if I wanted to change them, I couldn't. The cultures are self-reinforcing, and that's a good thing.