Andrew Yang quotes: on stereotypes, business, politics ‘n’ more.
“Building a successful business requires a combination of human capital, financial resources, market opportunity, persistence, community support, and even luck.”
“Overnight successes are generally years in the making. And most progress is made in isolation, far from the public eye.”
“Intelligence and character aren’t the same things at all. Pretending that they are will lead us to ruin.”
“Tell young girls they can be anything, including entrepreneurs and self-made billionaires. Encourage your friends, daughters, female students… to take a shot.”
“Mistakes are acceptable if they’re the result of moving forward.”
“I’ve always believed that talking about something is not the same as doing something about it.”
“If you go deep into a problem, you’ll find most all of the time that there are yet more problems to be solved from the ground up.”
“We need people willing to take risks and, yes, to occasionally fail. Like real-world-consequences fail. We need people committed over extended periods of time to creating value, no matter how hard that is. We need people who care deeply about the work they’re doing.”
“FOMO (fear of missing out) is the enemy of valuing your own time.”
“It might be a lot easier to take risks if you’re part of a group who will look out for one another.”
“People can grow from adversity as much as they do from prosperity.”
“Starting a company is rough. It’s even harder when you’re young. I know this firsthand, because my first company flopped when I was 25.”
“Starting a business is similar to an athletic endeavor, like serving a tennis ball. Telling you how to do it is useless. You actually get better through a combination of practice, coaching, and repetitions with money on the line.”
“In most every business, you learn by doing. The apprenticeship model is much more effective than the classroom for cultivating entrepreneurs.”
“There is a common and persistent belief out there that entrepreneurship is about creativity – that it’s about having a great idea. But it’s not, really. Entrepreneurship isn’t about creativity. It’s about organization-building – which, in turn, is about people.”
“Just about any growth company is going to need smart salespeople, account and project managers, business development, marketing, operations, customer service, content creation, communications, analytics, and social media.”
“You will almost always leave a professional services environment with a few noteworthy friends and relationships. These contacts can prove to be extremely valuable both personally and professionally.”
“For most students at universities around the country, studying entrepreneurship is a pleasant intellectual diversion, not a professional choice, path, or commitment.”
“One reason why entrepreneurs are admired is that they often take on a degree of risk in launching a new business.”
“In my experience, fledgling entrepreneurs focus way too much on the money. You can get most things done and figure out a lot without spending much.”
“Every entrepreneur doesn’t need to be technical. There are plenty of opportunities out there for people who aren’t coders.”
“People generally think of technology simply as a spur to start new businesses. But the internet has also made it possible for more businesses to compete for any given opportunity.”
“If a company is growing, then people’s roles often grow and change, and opportunities abound.”
“A company can set off in one direction, figures out that it’s not the right way to go, and then go in an entirely new direction. Over time, the product or service improves, and the company gets better at executing and delivering.”
“Every parent pursues the best possible opportunities for their child while climbing over obstacles and limitations each day. So in a way, all parents are entrepreneurs.”
“It’s right to embrace technology and all the conveniences and advantages that come with it. But we can’t embrace it at the cost of our humanity. We owe our children a new way forward in this technology-driven era.”
“Grit, persistence, adaptability, financial literacy, interview skills, human relationships, conversation, communication, managing technology, navigating conflicts, preparing healthy food, physical fitness, resilience, self-regulation, time management, basic psychology and mental health practices, arts, and music – all of these would help students and also make school seem much more relevant. Our fixation on college readiness leads our high school curricula toward purely academic subjects and away from life skills. The purpose of education should be to enable a citizen to live a good, positive, socially productive life independent of work.”
“We say success in America is about hard work and character. It’s not really. Most of success today is about how good you are at certain tests and what kind of family background you have, with some exceptions sprinkled in to try and make it all seem fair.”
“As a society, we can’t hide from the future; we have to build and own it.”
“I grew up a skinny Asian kid who was often ignored or picked on. It stuck with me and branded my soul. As I grew up, I tried to stick up for whoever seemed excluded or marginalized. I never thought I’d run for president. My parents were immigrants to this country – and leader of the free world was not on the list of careers presented to me as a skinny Asian kid growing up in upstate New York.”
“Running for president is not anyone’s first choice, honestly. Like I’m not running for president because I always fantasized about being president. I’m running for president because I’m a parent and I’m a patriot and I see the future coming down the pike. And it is not something I’m willing to accept for my children or yours. We can do better. We must do better. And so, to the extent that people don’t know – don’t know much about me – I think I’m a more normal person than you might imagine. Let’s put it that way. Like I’m not some maniac who was like, ‘Oh I’m going to like, go to high school in New Hampshire and that’ll be great for my presidential run 30 years later.’ No, I’m just someone who saw what was going on in our country and said we need to do better. I thought I could help us do better. And I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
“The essence of my campaign is that we need a new way forward that includes our own humanity and that means fallibility as well and becomes more forgiving of ourselves and of our fellow Americans, that if someone makes a misstatement instead of saying this somehow reflects negatively on their true nature or their character, we can say, look, you know, someone flubbed a statement, you know, and instead of having this culture where we attack someone over that, well, you look up and say, no.”
“I had very little going for me as a kid except for the fact that I had demanding parents and was very good at filling out bubbles on standardized tests.”
“If I need a pick-me-up, I pull up a memo file on my phone and type in three things I’m grateful for. The things I’ve typed on other days are still there. It’s a long list. Always helps.”
“I only aspire to lead a meaningful, impactful life where I can apply my skills as an extremely analytical individual toward the benefit of humanity.”
Related: Donald Trump quotes.
