Sheldon Adelson quotes: Vegas billionaire on entrepreneurs, why you need to zig when they zag, dealing with big money, and more.
“The world has to go on. Life goes on. You have to be willing to take risks. You have to be a visionary to see the opportunity.”
“Create a vision. Identify it and go for it.”
“An entrepreneur is born with the mentality to take risks, though there are several important characteristics: courage, faith in yourself, and above all, even when you fail, to learn from failure and get up and try again.”
“Entrepreneurship is essentially identifying the path that everyone takes; and choosing a different, better way.”
“I’ll tell you the secret, but nobody ever follows it. Just do things differently. Just do things in life the way other people don’t do them. Change the status quo. And then you’ll succeed.”
“I formed an opinion that if I did things differently than the way everybody did it that it would add value to every effort I made.”
“Achievement is the motivation of entrepreneurs.”
“Describing entrepreneurship, you have to say that risk is reward and reward is the risk.”
“There’s no such thing as fear – not to an entrepreneur. Concern, yes. Fear, no.”
“I think one of the most significant characteristics about being entrepreneurial is to have the courage of your own convictions.”
“Being an entrepreneur means being a creator. You create what you want – singing, dancing, whatever – and then you hear applauses.”
“Entrepreneurs do it for the accomplishment. The self-fulfillment. To feel good about something.”
“For those who wish to stay and work in computer science or technology, fields badly in need of their services, let’s roll out the welcome mat.”
“There is a big difference between management and leadership. Management is a power which was received, leadership is something deserved.”
“For me, businesses are like buses. You stand on a corner and you don’t like where the first bus is going? Wait 10 minutes and take another. Don’t like that one? They’ll just keep coming. There’s no end to buses or businesses.”
“I look at every business and ask, ‘How long can this last? How can I identify the status quo and change it?'”
“Instead of trying to fit a product or service into a budget, fit the budget into the product or service.”
“The report card for a commercial enterprise is making money.”
“The only purpose of making a good property is to sell it and make money out of it.”
“Sometimes in business, some people are overwhelmed by their success.”
“Money is fungible.”
“I’m not in business to make money for the other guy. I’m in business to make money for myself.”
“There’s enormous potential in my lifetime.”
“The key factor in my strategy is longevity.”
“You take care of the customer with the best product and service you can make and profit follows you like your shadow.”
“Nobody ever helped me. I had to do everything on my own.”
“My parents had few material things and the moneylender came to the house so often that I thought he was an uncle, like he was part of the family, because he would show up at every family affair.”
“When they died in 1985, 11 days apart, they didn’t have as much as $100 in the bank. Their whole life. They gave everything to their children. So I’m talking not from a white shoe background or from a privileged background. I’m talking as somebody who wore his skin down on his fingers trying to climb the ladder of success.”
“When I was able to support them and have them live in a more luxurious way, my mother would still take the bus. I would say, ‘Mother, let me send a limo,’ and she would say, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.'”
“My first business was at the age of 12. I bought and sold two newspaper ‘corners.’ The ‘corner’ was like a franchise to be able to sell the local newspapers. It was a right, and I had to buy that right from somebody.”
“Some people call me an optimist. The fact is that my appetite for risk was far greater than other people, and my courage in my own conviction was unshakable.”
“I don’t cry when I lose. There’s always a new hand coming up.”
“I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections. But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it.”
“I am willing to spend whatever it takes. My moral standard compels me to speak out on this issue because I am the largest company by far in the industry and I am willing to speak out. I don’t see any compelling reason for the government to allow people to gamble on the internet and nobody has ever explained except for the two companies whose special interest is going to be served if there is gaming on the internet.”
“I never thought about becoming wealthy. It never crossed my mind. What really motivated me was to try to accomplish something.”
“A billion dollars doesn’t buy what it used to.”
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
“I’ve already figured out when I’m going to be number two and number one.”
“Wealth has truly changed my life in one way; I have an opportunity to do charity.”
“If I were to retire, I would keep my family’s interest in the company the same and say, ‘Don’t sell.'”
“A friend of mine says, ‘You’re the tallest guy in the world.’ ‘How do you figure that?’ He says, ‘When you stand on your wallet.'”
“Why do I need succession planning? I’m very alert, I’m very vibrant. I have no intention to retire.”
“My mantra for success? Making the right decisions at the right time. For me, any business decision means that I need to have a decent profit margin. Hospitality sector, in itself, is not inviting enough. I deal in big money. Without gambling, setting up any resort doesn’t make sense. I deal in big money.”
