Top 60 James Cash Penney Quotes (2025 Update)

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

— James Cash Penney

Featured in: Growth Quotes

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

— James Cash Penney

Featured in: Accountability Quotes, Responsibility Quotes, Quotes About Trust

3. “Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.”

— James Cash Penney

4. “The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success.”

— James Cash Penney

5. “Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.”

— James Cash Penney

6. “Every great business is built on friendship.”

— James Cash Penney

7. “The well-satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts.”

— James Cash Penney

8. “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.”

— James Cash Penney

9. “No business can succeed in any great degree without being properly organized.”

— James Cash Penney

10. “No man can climb the ladder of success without first placing his foot on the bottom rung.”

— James Cash Penney

11. “Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless.”

— James Cash Penney

12. “It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.”

— James Cash Penney

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

— James Cash Penney

14. “Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change.”

— James Cash Penney

15. “Honor bespeaks worth. Confidence begets trust. Service brings satisfaction. Cooperation proves the quality of leadership.”

— James Cash Penney

16. “Luck is always the last refuge of laziness and incompetence.”

— James Cash Penney

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

— James Cash Penney

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

— James Cash Penney

19. “I learned that all things come to those who wait-provided they hustle while they wait.”

— James Cash Penney

20. “Responsibility is always a sign of trust.”

— James Cash Penney

21. “The friendly smile, the word of greeting, are certainly something fleeting and seemingly insubstantial. You can’t take them with you. But they work for good beyond your power to measure their influence. It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most.”

— James Cash Penney

22. “The greatest teacher I know is the job itself.”

— James Cash Penney

23. “Salesmanship, too, is an art; the perfection of its technique requires study and practice.”

— James Cash Penney

24. “The Golden Rule finds no limit of application in business.”

— James Cash Penney

25. “I do not believe in excuses. I believe in hard work as the prime solvent of life’s problems.”

— James Cash Penney

26. “Exchange ideas frequently.”

— James Cash Penney

27. “No company can afford not to move forward. It may be at the top of the heap today but at the bottom of the heap tomorrow, if it doesn’t.”

— James Cash Penney

28. “How can we expect our children to know and experience the joy of giving unless we teach them that the greater pleasure in life lies in the art of giving rather than receiving.”

— James Cash Penney

29. “Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it.”

— James Cash Penney

30. “Success cannot come from standstill men. Methods change and men must change with them.”

— James Cash Penney

31. “I never trust an executive who tends to pass the buck. Nor would I want to deal with him as a customer or a supplier.”

— James Cash Penney

32. “No matter what his position or experience in life, there is in everyone more latent than developed ability; far more unused than used power.”

— James Cash Penney

33. “Clock watchers never seem to be having a good time.”

— James Cash Penney

34. “The keystone of successful business is cooperation. Friction retards progress.”

— James Cash Penney

35. “Intelligence is the effort to do the best you can at your particular job; the quality that gives dignity to that job, whether it happens to be scrubbing a floor or running a corporation.”

— James Cash Penney

36. “As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for.”

— James Cash Penney

37. “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.”

— James Cash Penney

38. “My definition of an executive’s job is brief and to the point. It is simply this: Getting things done through other people.”

— James Cash Penney

39. “Men are not great or small because of their material possessions. They are great or small because of what they are.”

— James Cash Penney

40. “We can serve our customers well only if our buying jobs are right. You cannot sell if you haven’t ordered wanted goods into your store.”

— James Cash Penney

41. “Do not primarily train men to work. Train them to serve willingly and intelligently.”

— James Cash Penney

42. “I cannot remember a time when the Golden Rule was not my motto and precept, the torch that guided my footsteps.”

— James Cash Penney

43. “The five separate fingers are five independent units. Close them and the fist multiplies strength. This is organization.”

— James Cash Penney

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

— James Cash Penney

45. “No serious-minded man should have time for the mediocre in any phase of his living.”

— James Cash Penney

46. “I will have no man work for me who has not the capacity to become a partner.”

— James Cash Penney

47. “I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice – in giving a failure another chance.”

— James Cash Penney

48. “The thought in my mind was that I must be a good merchant. If I were a good merchant, the rest would probably take care of itself.”

— James Cash Penney

49. “Determine to do some thinking for yourself. Don’t live entirely upon the thoughts of others. Don’t be an automaton.”

— James Cash Penney

50. “Honor bespeaks worth Confidence begets trust.”

— James Cash Penney