Entrepreneurship Business Quotes

Rejection is an opportunity for your selection.

Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.

The type of person you are is usually reflected in your business. To improve your business, first improve yourself.

When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work – the most you will make is 5 dollars.

You have to work on the business first before it works for you.

Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.

If there is one trait that your brand must speak of, it is trust.

If you are going to be in business, you must learn about money: how it works, how it flows, and how to put it to work for you.

To escape fear, you have to go through it, not around.

Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship...the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.

Be a King. Dare to be Different, dare to manifest your greatness.

Men love women who are courageous for it means they can go all the way with him in his pursuit of his good dreams and intentions.

A confident woman wears a smile and has this air of comfortability and pleasantness about her.

Don't die without fulfilling your purpose.

I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive then I believe you are better off not doing it. A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.

Life is struggle.” I believe that within that quote lies the most important lesson in entrepreneurship: Embrace the struggle.

It is an acceptance of being uncomfortable that drives change.

Watch, listen, and learn. You can’t know it all yourself. Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.

Blaming others is an act of refusing to take responsibility. When a person can’t accept the fact or the reality, they blamed another person or the situation instead of taking accountability.

Dare to be different. Represent your maker well and you will forever abide in the beautiful embrace of his loving arms.

God is never tired of bringing the sun out every morning, taking it in the evenings and bringing out the moon.

If you have time to whine then you have time to find solution.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

An average man is egoistic, proud and has strong self esteem. They always require partners who massage their ego not those who will drag their ego to the mud.

Do you know great minds enjoy excellence, average minds love mediocrity and small minds adore comfort zones?

If everyone waited to become an expert before starting, no one would become an expert. To become an EXPERT, you must have EXPERIENCE. To get EXPERIENCE, you must EXPERIMENT! Stop waiting. Start stuff.

The idea of being wrong shouldn’t scare you from trying something new. We fail and we learn.

Early in my career as an engineer, I’d learned that all decisions were objective until the first line of code was written. After that, all decisions were emotional.

Your words are powerful so what you say goes a long way to either establish or destroy you; this is why you should say things that God has said concerning you, not things that situations or circumstances say.

Dreams remain dreams until we decide to act upon them.

It's not about money or connections. It's the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone.

An intelligent woman is a goldmine! She has the ability to learn, reason and understand things better and faster than her contemporaries. She is competent, alert and can reason out stuffs easily.

We forget many times, but changes are not threatening as they are the only way to move forward.

A failed entrepreneur has just passion but a successful one knows how to plan to keep that passion alive.

It’s very possible that your inexperienced intern knows more than you think, even if you have been part of the industry for over thirty years.

It’s wonderful to dream big but you still have to be realistic.

You never know where your next big idea will come from.

Don't call yourself discouraged anymore;it's no longer your name.

You have to always be vigilant and make sure you’re ready to get on the bandwagon as a need for any new change arises.

When we stick to our views and aren’t even willing to consider what others have to say, we lose an opportunity to grow and become better.

Sometimes they are just undifferentiated hobbies just like what many others have but we forget to see that in our entrepreneurial rush of excitement.

One’s needs and others’ understanding of one’s needs - these two are very different.

Don't let any situation intimidate you anymore, don't accept defeat anymore.

the most important lesson in entrepreneurship: Embrace the struggle.

One of the greatest joys of leading a business is providing jobs to other people.

When it comes to riding a trend for business growth, there are three important steps that we should always remember: data analysis, trend identification, and fast and effective decision making.

A true business opportunity is the on that an entrepreneur invents to grow him or herself. Not to work in, but to work on.

Don't just float through life; don't just agree to anything and everything, have a course you are known for at all times.

Business failures are valuable. When you experience failure as an entrepreneur, make a conscious effort to try to understand everything about how you failed and how the business failed. It'll help you succeed.

You can't force creatives into a box. If you try, they'll no longer be creative. And no one will want your box.

It's tough being an entrepreneur. You gotta be someone that's tough and knows how to bounce back.

You can change any status quo, stand out, walk by faith and not by sight and things will definitely go well with you.

The basic and most fundamental element to business is creating value - creating value for others and making their lives better in some way. If you can do that, put a price on it, communicate it clearly and get it to buyers….. you’re in business.

I’d learned the hard way that when hiring executives, one should follow Colin Powell’s instructions and hire for strength rather than lack of weakness.

A confident woman knows her worth and so doesn’t fret when her man is highly placed or is often found amidst other women in the course of his business or assignment.

Patience is a virtue not a vice.

It's just as great to be an employee as it is to be an entrepreneur. Great employees add immense value to businesses and therefore to markets and to economies. Being an employee is important.

Weigh whatever you are about to say; what will it do to your hearer - encouragement, edification, disappointment or fear? What will it do to your life - glorify, edify, beautify or weigh you down? Speak well and things will go well.

Harvard Business School professor Howard Stevenson famously defined “entrepreneurship” as “the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” I give a “hell yes” to that definition—you should take that spirit with you to whatever job you’re doing or whatever project you’re undertaking.

When you walk in silence your excellence will always speak for you.

Dominate in your domain; You can do it.

Don't say negative things about your spouse and children.

If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far go together", African Proverb

When we are connected to the source, we will not be afraid of any task set before us.

Accept responsibilities for all your actions. Learn from your past and your mistakes.

You need to choose your association according to your vision.

If you can’t communicate it, you can’t file a proper application. If you can’t file properly, you can’t secure a patent.

Make something people want and sell that, or be someone people need and sell you.

You are not permitted to suffer what others suffer, you are not permitted to fail or die young.

You recreate your world to your taste with God's Word in your mouth.

When a man finds this kind of woman, he will go all out for her knowing that she will not be a letdown.

God rewards every act of obedience to His Will.

When you walk in distinction, even the photocopying machine can’t replicate your unique quality.

What the average call excellent, the excellent call average.

Fail soon so that you can succeed sooner.

Starting a business is risky. But with every risk, there are substantial rewards. Successful entrepreneurs learn to keep their minds focused on the rewards.

You may not attain the highest height with one leap but my dear; you will reach your destination.

A woman that is patient has the ability to endure provocation, pain, annoyance etc, with much calm and strength.

Pivoting is not the end of the disruption process, but the beginning of the next leg of your journey.

As entrepreneurs, you need to deeply understand your target customers' needs, wants, and pain points.

How you react when your back is against the wall will determine if you see what's actually over the wall.

Today it is cheaper to start a business than tomorrow.

Your mouth is not given to you for feeding alone; it is given to you to programme events and circumstance around you.

No obstacle is so big that one person with determination can't make a difference.

An idea is not a business. It doesn't matter how wonderful your idea sounds. What matters is the revenue model and how the business is going to earn money consistently, sustainably and abundantly.

Be creative while inventing ideas, but be disciplined while implementing them.

Even as an entrepreneur, you need to see yourself as an employee of your business.

Desire to give and not always receive.

Drown those degrading thoughts.

Worship is the marriage of two Spirits - the Spirit of God and the Spirit of man.

Your decision not to join the crowd may be what God is waiting for to grant you revelation on how to deliver your family, your country, business, profession or even your church!

A responsible woman is one who sees opportunities of service and responds to them quickly. In her dwells the ability to see and respond to opportunities.

Your status has changed. Your Name is changed! You are a new creation.

In order to have a healthy economy, we need both entrepreneurs and employees. We need business of every size and we need people to accept the many jobs offered by those businesses. So it's okay to celebrate entrepreneurship, but let's also celebrate the good things about being an employee.

Logic and reason are the naphthalene balls we use to pack them away into a sandook called 'Someday'. But when that day comes we are too old, too poor, too tired or too lazy.

You have to be a optimistic person to succeed as an entrepreneur. Fear and pessimism are dangerous to entrepreneurs.

Create your world with God's Word in your mouth just say it and it will be accomplished!

The presence of God is so important in the life of believers. There is abundance of all you need to make your life comfortable in His presence.

I'm an entrepreneur." "Entrepreneur?" Pepper said the last part like manure. "That's just a hustler who pays taxes.

Don`t complain, Don`t compromise.

Desire to impact lives! Change destinies and make dreams come true.

The bottom line is down where it belongs - at the bottom.

When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance.

The true start-up of a business is what happens before you start-up.

It’s better to have one huge filing with lots of detail, data, and use cases than a dozen failed filings of five to ten pages each. Minimum filing requirements are not minimum requirements to secure a patent. Who does your patent keep out, and how? Your goal in creating IP is for it to be valuable, to be connected to the company, to be linked to your products or service, and to keep out competitors.

remember when God has answered you, it no longer matters who has been against you but for Him to answer you and change your story, you have to make up your mind to disobey the wrong order, change the status quo and BE DIFFERENT!

How can we tell people "never give up" when some haven't even started yet.

If you don't appreciate your customers, someone else will.

Don't wait to be compelled to do great work.

So cheer up Beloved; for your God is able, He is the maker of all things.

Every entrepreneur should go meditate in a forest — they'll gain business insights there that they couldn't get anywhere else.

Avoid conflicts, Embrace cordiality.

A responsible woman sees and accepts only the best in a given situation.

Ladies, get confident about yourselves, build up your self-worth and esteem, love yourself and be proud of your achievements and your man will adore you for life.

Don’t try to be original, just try to be good.

Social issues impact every business. Whether we're talking about womens health or education or economic equity or climate change or renewable energy... All of these things impact businesses and their ability to profit. And they all present business opportunities also. So there's a lot to consider at the intersection of business and social work. And you can't really care about business without also caring about people's well-being, so every entrepreneur should be a social entrepreneur trying to help other people live better lives in some way.

Managing a business does not require any genius. The main qualification is the ability to identify and deliver value to a group of people consistently and efficiently at the highest price point acceptable to them. Everything else can be hired out.

Both political parties have moved to the right during the neoliberal period. Today’s New Democrats are pretty much what used to be called “moderate Republicans.” The “political revolution” that Bernie Sanders called for, rightly, would not have greatly surprised Dwight Eisenhower. The fate of the minimum wage illustrates what has been happening. Through the periods of high and egalitarian growth in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the minimum wage—which sets a floor for other wages—tracked productivity. That ended with the onset of neoliberal doctrine. Since then, the minimum wage has stagnated (in real value). Had it continued as before, it would probably be close to $20 per hour. Today, it is considered a political revolution to raise it to $15.

IP is an intangible asset—an idea converted into transferable personal property rights through patents, trademarks, copyrights, service marks, and trade secrets. IP covers every famous animated character you’ve ever heard of, the logos on your clothing. IP covers products and services you use every day—from flashlights to mobile phones, packaging to cars, food and beverage products, to smart thermostats. IP is not only for big businesses. Most start-ups and event microbusinesses have IP of some kind. 

Every great athlete, artist and aspiring being has a great team to help them flourish and succeed - personally and professionally. Even the so-called 'solo star' has a strong supporting cast helping them shine, thrive and take flight.

One of the newest figures to emerge on the world stage in recent years is the social entrepreneur. This is usually someone who burns with desire to make a positive social impact on the world, but believes that the best way of doing it is, as the saying goes, not by giving poor people a fish and feeding them for a day, but by teaching them to fish, in hopes of feeding them for a lifetime. I have come to know several social entrepreneurs in recent years, and most combine a business school brain with a social worker's heart. The triple convergence and the flattening of the world have been a godsend for them. Those who get it and are adapting to it have begun launching some very innovative projects.

Trustworthy is earned not bought.

Be Shameless. Experiment. This is the only way to identify your true passion.

Build up your faith while starving the fears.

Sell the results, not the nuts and bolts.

Transparency fosters trust. And trust is very valuable in business.

Entrepreneurship requires passion! It's so challenging being an entrepreneur and sometimes a little bit lonely too, so you really need to love what you're doing.

The presence of the Lord destroys a life of struggle. You will struggle until you encounter His presence.

You are not permitted to live and die as a non-entity because you have encountered the greatness that is associated with Christ.

He is the only option for better living.

Man is like a bride unto God. God is jealous when man veers away from Him.

Another way of remaining in intimacy with God is by remaining in His presence.

Businesses are born, businesses live, and businesses die. And that's okay.

As an entrepreneur, you should definitely stay aware of what's going on in the economy. But don't let economists tell you how to do business.

If you're a business owner, you should strive for your business to be as productive as a fruiting tree.

Courage is the ability to execute tasks and assignments without fear or intimidation.

Ride higher in life unto the higher life.

The giver is the blessed! The receiver stands still.

Sow the right words! Think the good thought.

Life is beautiful if you take the best option.

Light is life and always wins.

The real challenge is for each of us to determine where we feel we can make the most impact.

Always deliver more than expected.

Our society today celebrates entrepreneurship way too much. It's great to be an entrepreneur. But it's also great to be an employee. In order to have a healthy economy, we need both entrepreneurs and employees. We need business of every size and we need people to accept the many jobs offered by those businesses.

Self discipline is extremely valuable, especially for entrepreneurs. If you lose everything, but you still have self discipline remaining, you'll get back everything you lost and multiples times more.

Entrepreneur, become so disciplined that even your distractions become focused.

A person who values their goals actually values their achievements.

You don’t get what you wish for; you get what you work for.

Fight your fear, your laziness, your ignorance before you worry about fighting the competition.

At the heart of all sales and marketing is the ability to create demand even in the absence of logic.

Stop Blaming. Take responsibility for your thoughts and your actions.

Entrepreneurs see the "no diving" sign and back-up to get a running start.

Anyaele Sam Chiyson Leadership Law of Reproduction: Distinguished leaders impress, inspire and invest in other leaders.

Anyaele Sam Chiyson Leadership Law of Influence: It takes an influential leader to excellently raise up leaders of influence.

As a new entrepreneur, you're probably gonna have to hustle hard to get things going at first. And you gotta be comitted to that hustle until it's not necessary anymore.

As a new entrepreneur, you're probably gonna have to hustle hard to get things going at first. And you gotta be committed to that hustle until it's not necessary anymore.

The choice is yours. Don't let your pronouncements destroy your destiny rather let them build your future up!

You are created with a mandate! You have all you need to fulfill it.

We cannot prevail by our own might or strength, we need to plug on to the source of our strength so that we will remain resourceful always.

In your emotions: exercise Joy over sadness.

Choices, options, decisions abound. Choose right, take the best option and decide well.

Don`t turn around in circles for making circles do not equate making progress.

Shine forth your light before all beings.

Maturity of a woman is not in her age or size for age is just a number and size is figure.

The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that successful ones know that the most unprofitable thing ever manufactured is an excuse.

Lifelong learning is no longer a luxury but a necessity for employment.

Leveraging existing resources is innovation’s sweetest play.

Profit is not the purpose of a business, but rather the test of its validity.

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.

Disruptors don't have to discover something new; they just have to discover a practical use for new discoveries.

When you were making excuses someone else was making enterprise.

If you’re not filing patents, but your competitors are, all you have is risk. You’re taking a huge chance that no one else will enter your space and kick you out. That’s the benefit of patents; you don’t have to let everybody in. You can let just a few major players in because you want what they have, or you don’t want to worry about them. Remember, you’re not at the big boys’ lunch table. But if you partner with their competitor, they’ll be worried. Then they’ll want to see if your patent protection is strong or if they can exploit a weakness.

A woman can tolerate delays knowing they are not denials; she is diligent, and composed. She is not easily irritated like love; she endures all things, beans all things and can be stretched to any limit.

The problem with your company is not the economy, it is not the lack of opportunity, it is not your team. The problem is you. That is the bad news. The good news is, if you're the problem, you're also the solution. You're the one person you can change the easiest. You can decide to grow. Grow your abilities, your character, your education, and your capacity. You can decide who you want to be and get about the business of becoming that person.

A matured woman is therefore a responsible woman irrespective of her age, status and qualification.

Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.

Entrepreneur, make today count and but don't let the day count you.

In five minutes you should know if people have confirmed, calculated & considered your vision.

You may not have connections, or an education, or wealth, but with enough passion and sweat, you can make anything happen.

To become a distinguished entrepreneur, you need to have an undeniable, unquestionable and unmovable passion for your vision.

We’ve all been in positions where we felt out of place or not accepted for whatever reason. For me, that’s been my life. I’ve always been that person that stood out. And what makes you an outcast is what makes you unique, and you should harness that. Being a black sheep gives you creative license to do sh*t differently.

Fascism talks ideology, but it is really just marketing—marketing for power. It is recognizable by its need to purge, by the strategies it uses to purge, and by its terror of truly democratic agendas. It is recognizable by its determination to convert all public services to private entrepreneurship, all nonprofit organizations to profit-making ones—so that the narrow but protective chasm between governance and business disappears. It changes citizens into taxpayers—so individuals become angry at even the notion of the public good. It changes neighbors into consumers—so the measure of our value as humans is not our humanity or our compassion or our generosity but what we own. It changes parenting into panicking—so that we vote against the interests of our own children; against their health care, their education, their safety from weapons. And in effecting these changes it produces the perfect capitalist, one who is willing to kill a human being for a product (a pair of sneakers, a jacket, a car) or kill generations for control of products (oil, drugs, fruit, gold).

Every Spring, nature teaches a class on business entrepreneurship. ....We see how capital is re-allocated, currencies are re-directed, growth is re-emphasized, and numerous life forms promote their value with re-vitalized marketing programs that implement flowers or seeds or aromas or habitability or pollination in an effort demonstrate a unique value proposition in a busy economy.

My lessons weren’t specific to business, but they were fundamental values—integrity, humility, responsibility, work ethic, entrepreneurship, a thirst for knowledge, the desire to make a contribution, and concern for others—that profoundly influenced the way I do business and live my life to this day.

There's no age mimimum to entrepreneurship. Kids can be entrepreneurs, kids can be executives. Ultimately succeeding in business is about the skill and capacity to add value. If you have that skill and capacity to add value as a kid, then you'll succeed in business.

Over the past century, researchers have studied business entrepreneurs extensively.. In contrast, social entrepreneurs have received little attention. Historically, they have been cast as humanitarians or saints, and stories of their work have been passed down more in the form of children's tales than case studies. While the stories may inspire, they fail to make social entrepreneurs' methods comprehensible. One can analyze an entrepreneur, but how does one analyze a saint?

If you're an entrepreneur, I encourage you to have meaningful conversations with other entrepreneurs and with all kinds of people working in all kinds of industries. With time, this will give you greater clarity about how the world works and you'll start to have more of an eye for business opportunities.

Even the richest person, provided the riches comes from mutually beneficial exchange, does not need to give anything "back" to the community, because this person took nothing out of the community. Indeed, the reverse is true: Enterprises give to the community. Their owners take huge risks, and front the money for investment, precisely with the goal of serving others. Their riches are signs that they have achieved their aims.

The entrepreneur’s mind-set is completely different to the employee’s mind-set. The entrepreneur finds it abhorrent to conform to organizational norms, whilst the employee finds joy and stability in all that’s tried and true. It’s not that one’s wrong and the other is right. It’s the mind-set that differentiates the two.

Entrepreneurship is when an individual retrieves a red hot idea from the creativity furnace without the constraint of the heat of lean resources, and with each persistent blow of the innovation hammer shapes the still malleable idea against the anvil of passion, vision, insight, strategy, and principles to forge a fitting vessel of a creative concern.

As a new entrepreneur, you're probably gonna have to hustle hard to get things going at first. But as the business grows and becomes more established, that unrefined hustle should be replaced by automated profit-producing processes and systems. Hustle is good as a temporary mode of operating, but it's unsustainable long term and unprofitable long term.

Mom & pop stores are not about something small; they are about something big. Ninety percent of all U.S. businesses are family owned or controlled. They are important not only for the food, drink, clothing, and tools they sell us, but also for providing us with intellectual stimulation, social interaction, and connection to our communities. We must have mom & pop stores because we are social animals. We crave to be part of the marketplace.

Every Spring, nature teaches a class on business entrepreneurship. ....We see how capital is re-allocated, currencies are re-directed, growth is re-emphasized, and numerous life forms promote their value with re-vitalized marketing programs that implement flowers or seeds or aromas or habitability or pollination in an effort demonstrate a unique value proposition in a busy economy. Smart entrepreneurs enroll in this class every Spring and take good notes. Whether you're an entrepreneur of a small business or an entrepreneur of a line of business within a large company... learn from nature.

You can't approach business the same way you approach an algebra equation or something. When you're considering the viability of a business, you have to also consider the psychology of human beings, the logistics of peoples emotions, cultural factors, sociopolitical factors, peoples habits, and more. There's a lot to consider when you're thinking about what people are going to pay for and how much they'll pay and why they'll pay and what they really value.

According to Aman Mehndiratta, Persuasion of the idea and planning the strategy is the key activity for every business not only for the entrepreneurial business. But there goes an extra emphasis on the business started as an entrepreneurship. As here, everything including decisions, responsibilities, failures, success, appreciation, and criticism belongs to you only. Proper strategy and planning are necessary if one wants to avoid the future risks.

The goal - at least the way I think about entrepreneurship - is you realize one day that you can't really work anyone else. You have to start your own thing. It almost doesn't matter what the thing is. We had six different business plan changes, and then the last one was PayPal. If that one didn't work out, if we still had the money and the people, obviously we would not have given up. We would have iterated on the business model and done something else. I don't think there was ever clarity as to who we were until we knew it was working. By then, we'd figured out our PR pitch and told everyone what we do and who we are. But between the founding and the actual PayPal, it was just like this tug-of-war where it was like, "We're trying this, this week." Every week you go to investors and say, "We're doing this, exactly this. We're really focused. We're going to be huge." The next week you're like, "That was a lie.

Without question, the balance of power on the planet today lies in the hands of business. Corporations rival governments in wealth, influence, and power. Indeed, business all too often pulls the strings of government. Competing institutions-religion, the press, even the military-play subordinate roles in much of the world today. If a values-driven approach to business can begin to redirect this vast power toward more constructive ends than the simple accumulation of wealth, the human race and Planet Earth will have a fighting chance.

Entrepreneurs are everywhere. You don’t have to work in a garage to be in a startup. The concept of entrepreneurship includes anyone who works within my definition of a startup: a human institution designed to create new products and services under conditions of extreme uncertainty. That means entrepreneurs are everywhere and the Lean Startup approach can work in any size company, even a very large enterprise, in any sector or industry. 2. Entrepreneurship is management. A startup is an institution, not just a product, and so it requires a new kind of management specifically geared to its context of extreme uncertainty. In fact, as I will argue later, I believe “entrepreneur” should be considered a job title in all modern companies that depend on innovation for their future growth. 3. Validated learning. Startups exist not just to make stuff, make money, or even serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically by running frequent experiments that allow entrepreneurs to test each element of their vision. 4. Build-Measure-Learn. The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere. All successful startup processes should be geared to accelerate that feedback loop. 5. Innovation accounting. To improve entrepreneurial outcomes and hold innovators accountable, we need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how to prioritize work. This requires a new kind of accounting designed for startups—and the people who hold them accountable.

I had ceased to be a writer of tolerably poor tales and essays, and had become a tolerably good Surveyor of the Customs. That was all. But, nevertheless, it is any thing but agreeable to be haunted by a suspicion that one's intellect is dwindling away; or exhaling, without your consciousness, like ether out of a phial; so that, at every glance, you find a smaller and less volatile residuum. Of the fact, there could be no doubt; and, examining myself and others, I was led to conclusions in reference to the effect of public office on the character, not very favorable to the mode of life in question. In some other form, perhaps, I may hereafter develop these effects. Suffice it here to say, that a Custom-House officer, of long continuance, can hardly be a very praiseworthy or respectable personage, for many reasons; one of them, the tenure by which he holds his situation, and another, the very nature of his business, which—though, I trust, an honest one—is of such a sort that he does not share in the united effort of mankind. An effect—which I believe to be observable, more or less, in every individual who has occupied the position—is, that, while he leans on the mighty arm of the Republic, his own proper strength departs from him. He loses, in an extent proportioned to the weakness or force of his original nature, the capability of self-support. If he possess an unusual share of native energy, or the enervating magic of place do not operate too long upon him, his forfeited powers may be redeemable. The ejected officer—fortunate in the unkindly shove that sends him forth betimes, to struggle amid a struggling world—may return to himself, and become all that he has ever been. But this seldom happens. He usually keeps his ground just long enough for his own ruin, and is then thrust out, with sinews all unstrung, to totter along the difficult footpath of life as he best may. Conscious of his own infirmity,—that his tempered steel and elasticity are lost,—he for ever afterwards looks wistfully about him in quest of support external to himself. His pervading and continual hope—a hallucination, which, in the face of all discouragement, and making light of impossibilities, haunts him while he lives, and, I fancy, like the convulsive throes of the cholera, torments him for a brief space after death—is, that, finally, and in no long time, by some happy coincidence of circumstances, he shall be restored to office. This faith, more than any thing else, steals the pith and availability out of whatever enterprise he may dream of undertaking. Why should he toil and moil, and be at so much trouble to pick himself up out of the mud, when, in a little while hence, the strong arm of his Uncle will raise and support him? Why should he work for his living here, or go to dig gold in California, when he is so soon to be made happy, at monthly intervals, with a little pile of glittering coin out of his Uncle's pocket? It is sadly curious to observe how slight a taste of office suffices to infect a poor fellow with this singular disease. Uncle Sam's gold—meaning no disrespect to the worthy old gentleman—has, in this respect, a quality of enchantment like that of the Devil's wages. Whoever touches it should look well to himself, or he may find the bargain to go hard against him, involving, if not his soul, yet many of its better attributes; its sturdy force, its courage and constancy, its truth, its self-reliance, and all that gives the emphasis to manly character.

The cultural Left has contributed to the formation of this politically useless unconscious not only by adopting “power” as the name of an invisible, ubiquitous, and malevolent presence, but by adopting ideals which nobody is yet able to imagine being actualized. Among these ideals are participatory democracy and the end of capitalism. Power will pass to the people, the Sixties Left believed only when decisions are made by all those who may be affected by the results. This means, for example, that economic decisions will be made by stakeholders rather than by shareholders, and that entrepreneurship and markets will cease to play their present role. When they do, capitalism as we know it will have ended, and something new will have taken its place. […] Sixties leftists skipped lightly over all the questions which had been raised by the experience of non market economies in the so-called socialist countries. They seemed to be suggesting that once we were rid of both bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, “the people” would know how to handle competition from steel mills or textile factories in the developing world, price hikes on imported oil, and so on. But they never told us how “the people” would learn how to do this. The cultural Left still skips over such questions. Doing so is a consequence of its preference for talking about “the system” rather than about specific social practices and specific changes in those practices. The rhetoric of this Left remains revolutionary rather than reformist and pragmatic. Its insouciant use of terms like “late capitalism” suggests that we can just wait for capitalism to collapse, rather than figuring out what, in the absence of markets, will set prices and regulate distribution. The voting public, the public which must be won over if the Left is to emerge from the academy into the public square, sensibly wants to be told the details. It wants to know how things are going to work after markets are put behind us. It wants to know how participatory democracy is supposed to function. The cultural Left offers no answers to such demands for further information, but until it confronts them it will not be able to be a political Left. The public, sensibly, has no interest in getting rid of capitalism until it is offered details about the alternatives. Nor should it be interested in participatory democracy –– the liberation of the people from the power of technocrats –– until it is told how deliberative assemblies will acquire the same know-how which only the technocrats presently possess. […] The cultural Left has a vision of an America in which the white patriarchs have stopped voting and have left all the voting to be done by members of previously victimized groups, people who have somehow come into possession of more foresight and imagination than the selfish suburbanites. These formerly oppressed and newly powerful people are expected to be as angelic as the straight white males were diabolical. If I shared this expectation, I too would want to live under this new dispensation. Since I see no reason to share it, I think that the left should get back into the business of piecemeal reform within the framework of a market economy. This was the business the American Left was in during the first two-thirds of the century. Someday, perhaps, cumulative piecemeal reforms will be found to have brought about revolutionary change. Such reforms might someday produce a presently unimaginable non market economy, and much more widely distributed powers of decision making. […] But in the meantime, we should not let the abstractly described best be the enemy of the better. We should not let speculation about a totally changed system, and a totally different way of thinking about human life and affairs, replace step-by-step reform of the system we presently have.