J. C. Penney, formally James Cash Penney

We get real results only in proportion to the real values we give.

Too many would-be executives are slaves of routine.

The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.

The keystone of successful business is cooperation. Friction retards progress.

The Golden Rule finds no limit of application in business.

The disciplined are free.

Responsibilities are given to him on whom trust rests. Responsibility is always a sign of trust.

Luck is always the last refuge of laziness and incompetence.

It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most.

I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life's problems.

Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.

Exchange ideas frequently.

Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.

Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change.

A store's best advertisement is the service its goods render, for upon such service rest the future, the good-will, of an organization.

A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public well has nothing to fear from the competition.

Success in business does not depend upon genius. Any young man of ordinary intelligence who is normally sound and not afraid to work should succeed in spite of obstacles and handicaps if he plays the game fairly and keeps everlastingly at it.

The best way to stop a bad habit is never to begin it.

I would never have amounted to anything were it not for adversity. I was forced to come up the hard way.