Russell Simmons quotes: awesome advice and reflections from the biz mogul.
“No matter where you want to go, as long as you follow your path with faith, dedication and hard work, you are going to get there.”
“Everything you need to know about success is inside of you, because I believe it is inside of all of us. That is, all human beings have potential for infinite success.”
“Get unstuck from whatever it is you perceive is holding you back from realizing your dreams.”
“As long as you are passionate about your vision, you should keep moving forward. If you aren’t passionate about a vision, it’s hard to have faith in it.”
“You can be anything you want to be, and you can start today, instead of waiting for some opportunity.”
“The imagination is how things get done. You have to cultivate creativity.”
“In my experience, there’s only one thing that will always steer you toward success: that’s to have a vision and to stick with it. Once I have a vision for a new venture, I’m going to ride that vision until the wheels come off.”
“Respect your parents. What they tell you is true. Hard work, dedication and faith will get you anything. Imagination will drive itself. You can get anything you want, but you have to have faith behind all your ideas. Stick to your goals and have an undying faith.”
“It’s all about the work. Nothing is going to fall into your lap. You’ve got to put your head down and do the work. There are no shortcuts. It’s very simple: when you’re working your hardest, the world opens up to you. You have to live your life as if you are already where you want to be.”
“But rich or poor, black or white, none of us are entitled to anything.”
“No matter what you’re doing, try to work at that task like it’s your dream job. Always focus on your effort, instead of the results of that effort.”
“Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self.”
“Don’t worry what others are doing. Do you!”
“There are no failures, only quitters.”
“Be encouraged. Stay on your hustle. You can’t fail until you quit.”
“You will be a great entrepreneur if you operate with a real sincere wanting to serve.”
“I think that diversity is key for the next American entrepreneurs. They want to be a part of this society where there is so much diversity they have to have people from all the experiences.”
“The pain that’s created by avoiding hard work is actually much worse than any pain created from the actual work itself. Because if you don’t begin to work on those ideas that God has blessed you with, they will become stagnant inside of you and eventually begin to eat away at you. You might seem okay on the outside, but inside you will be ill from not getting those ideas out of your heart and into the world. Stalling leads to sickness. But taking steps, even baby steps, always leads to success.”
“I know some people say, ‘Keep your eyes on the prize,’ but I disagree. When your eyes are stuck on the prize, you’re going to keep stumbling and crashing into things. If you really want to get ahead, you’ve got to keep your eyes focused on the path.”
“It’s important to focus on what we do best and master one craft at a time.”
“You just have to pay attention to what people need and what has not been done.”
“Never change for the mainstream – stay in your lane, and if you’re talented and resilient enough the mainstream will come to you.”
“What holds most people back isn’t the quality of their ideas, but their lack of faith in themselves.”
“Not every move you make has to be a great leap.”
“Mistakes only cost you when you don’t acknowledge them.”
“If it feels like your life has become a nasty, brackish puddle of water, never forget that you do possess the power to transform it into a beautiful, rushing stream that will carry you to enlightenment.”
“You have to be able to say what people are thinking but won’t say. It’s like Donald Trump.”
“Never pass up any opportunity to share your gifts with the world.”
“One positive thought can change your whole day.”
“If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you’re going to get, you become a more successful person. In other words, if you want to make money, you have to help someone else make money.”
“Whatever obstacles appear in your path, put your head down and get past them. Those obstacles aren’t real. They’re just God’s way of testing you. He’s asking you, ‘Do you want to make it or not?'”
“Embrace struggle. It is your greatest teacher.”
“Don’t ruin a good today by thinking of a bad yesterday. Let it go!”
“No matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been, every single one of us can change.”
“Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. I’ve been blessed to find people who are smarter than I am, and they help me to execute the vision I have.”
“Gratefulness is a practice, just like happiness is a choice.”
“If you learn late, you pass it on to people so they can learn early. It’s a step process.”
“Whatever you chase will run away from you. So, stop chasing success and realize you already have it all.”
“It’s always marketeers building their own careers.”
“A clear and focused mind will last a lifetime. Getting your mind in shape is nothing less than the key to sustainable success in the world.”
“In the morning I stand up, scratch a little bit, then I light a candle and I meditate. Every morning. I’ve been meditating for maybe 20 years. I meditate so I can make choices; so I’m not asleep all the time. So I can see better than what everyone else is doing.”
“I used to think anxiety and insomnia drove me to success, but it was the stillness that let me be good at anything. When you extend the seconds of stillness, that’s when you’re able to think and learn.”
“If you play basketball, you get into the zone. You can’t miss. That’s the expansive mindset we’re all seeking. But that only comes when the mind is quiet and separate from the noise. And the greatest tool to eliminate the noise is meditation.”
“A person’s strength is to know their weaknesses.”
“Needing nothing attracts everything.”
“Success is happiness. People say, ‘Oh that sounds corny.’ No matter how rich you are you can only sit your ass in one seat at a time. You have to be comfortable in that seat.”
“The key ingredient to any kind of happiness or success is to never give less than your best.”
“Happy can make you money, but money can’t make you happy.”
“You cannot find it anywhere, because it is located inside you – happiness is your natural state.”
“You have to learn to laugh all the time. It’s a practice of life. It’s a practice of happiness.”
“Art is a way to express yourself and through that you can escape a bad situation.”
“People will always blame the poets for society’s ills. But these are the true artists.”
“The thing about hip-hop is that it’s from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized.”
“I try to keep a positive intention, and use whatever resources I have to benefit others. I try to create businesses that I think are not hurtful. I try to do things that I think are helpful to the environment, to the animals, and to the planet.”
“As I get, I give. Giving as you get is critical. It has everything to do with being happy for yourself, and making others happy is the cause of making yourself happy, and it’s the cycle of giving and getting.”
“When you give without reservation, you’ll become a magnet that pulls the world toward you.”
“When you do good by the world, the world will do good by you.”
“You’ve got to keep reminding yourself of what’s important.”
“Service is the key to everything in life.”
“The old world is quickly disappearing, and the new opportunities are opening up.”
“Decide that no matter what is happening around you, the sun will always be shining in your world.”
“The world belongs to the people who say, ‘I can.'”
“In the end, the overriding factor in whether or not you realize your dreams is going to be you. Not the world. You.”
