As much as we hate to admit it, Mandel Marketing is not the only the game in town; in fact, we proudly stand on the shoulders of giants. Here are some of our favorite inspirational, thought-provoking, and downright strange quotes about our business.

“Creativity takes courage.” — Henri Matisse

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence.” — Albert Einstein

“Stop selling. Start Helping.” — Zig Ziglar

“Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.” — Samuel Beckett, in an article from the February 1970 issue of Vogue magazine, of all places

“The artist finds a greater pleasure in painting than in having completed the picture.” — Seneca the Younger

“I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.” ― David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising (1983)

“Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.” — Walter Landor, founder of legendary brand design firm Landor Associates

“Beauty is nothing more than the promise of happiness.” — Stendhal

“The best content isn’t storytelling. The best content is telling a true story well.” — Ann Handley, author and marketer, in this terrific article

“There are two fools in every market: the one who asks too little, and the one who asks too much.” — Russian proverb

“Hope for the best. Expect the worst.” — Mel Brooks

“I’m an outsider. I’ll always be an outsider.” Cartoonist R. Crumb, from “The Art of Comics No. 1” in The Paris Review, Summer 2010

“What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public.” ―Vilhjalmur Stefansson

“Even the most pragmatic of us invest objects with magical powers and believe they can somehow repay our attention to them. … Totems, talismans, fetishes―they all acquire emotional power and become ceremonial objects in the very private sacrament of me.” ― R.T. Smith, “Object of Affection: Prose Exercises” in Naming The World, 2007 (ed. by Bret Anthony Johnston)

“L’art est une harmonie parallèle à la nature” (Art is a harmony parallel to nature) ― Paul Cézanne (for more on painting and art, see our post that discusses the question, “What do we see when we look?”)

Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, ca.1894-1900

“Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.” — Virgil, The Aeneid. This can be literally translated as “If I cannot deflect the superior powers, then I shall move the River Acheron,” or, in more common parlance, “If I cannot bend the heavens, then I shall move the powers of hell.” We prefer thinking of this line this way: If I cannot move heaven, then I will raise hell. Fuck yeah, Virgil.

“It would be far better to fail honorably for the cause we champion than it would be to win by foul methods.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, in a 1912 speech

“Never be bullied into silence, never be allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” ― Harvey Fierstein

“It’s very easy to… go chasing after the big house and the large salary and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy. But I hope you don’t. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks to little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled.” ― Barack Obama, 2006

“Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well.” ― Jack London

“The Internet was a wonderful invention. It was a computer network which people used to remind other people that they were awful pieces of shit.” ― Jarret Kobek, I Hate The Internet. (2016)

“Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can’t use the wrong words.” ― Virginia Woolf

We hope these inspirational quotes for sales associates will help motivate your team–they certainly keep us going.

Looking For More Inspiration? Check Out An MFA For Your MBA

Mandel Marketing’s founder Phillip Scott Mandel wrote a book about writing, art, and inspiration: An MFA For Your MBA (May 2024).