I learned early on that one of the secrets of campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them I would call them by name, but even if I didn't I would still speak to them.

- Sam Walton

I don't know what would have happened to Wal-Mart if we had laid low and never stirred up the competition. My guess is that we would have remained a strictly regional operator.

- Sam Walton

What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce?

- Sam Walton

I probably have traveled and walked into more variety stores than anybody in America.

- Sam Walton

I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they've been.

- Sam Walton

I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.

- Sam Walton

Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.

- Sam Walton

I've never been one to dwell on reverses.

- Sam Walton

Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.

- Sam Walton

Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage.

- Sam Walton

Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up.

- Sam Walton

Give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people.

- Sam Walton

In the beginning, I was so chintzy I really didn't pay my employees well.

- Sam Walton

Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations.

- Sam Walton

Exceed your customer's expectations. If you do, they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want - and a little more.

- Sam Walton

One person seeking glory doesn't accomplish very much.

- Sam Walton

I got into retailing because I wanted a real job.

- Sam Walton

Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.

- Sam Walton

Capital isn't scarce; vision is.

- Sam Walton

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

- Sam Walton