Top 50 Michael Dell Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Ideas are commodity. Execution of them is not.”

— Michael Dell

Featured in: Startup Quotes

2. “Collaboration equals innovation.”

— Michael Dell

3. “Anything that can be measured can be improved.”

— Michael Dell

4. “There’s always an opportunity to make a difference.”

— Michael Dell

5. “You don’t have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.”

— Michael Dell

6. “Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity.”

— Michael Dell

7. “There is no better catalyst to success than curiosity.”

— Michael Dell

8. “The point is, you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect it to keep working.”

— Michael Dell

9. “Ignore the people who tell you it won’t work, and hire people who embrace your vision.”

— Michael Dell

10. “We were always focused on our profit and loss statement. But cash flow was not a regularly discussed topic. It was as if we were driving along, watching only the speedometer, when in fact we were running out of gas.”

— Michael Dell

11. “Each day that you’re moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are, you’re winning.”

— Michael Dell

12. “I started Dell 28 yrs ago with $1000. Revenues in 1984 were $6 million. Last year $62.1 billion. Impossible is nothing.”

— Michael Dell

13. “It’s exciting to see how fast your kids learn and grow. I’m not too worried about them, particularly the ones who like to break rules and don’t follow instructions; those are the ones that will do just fine because they know what’s important to them.”

— Michael Dell

14. “It’s easy to decide what you’re going to do. The hard thing is deciding what you’re not going to do.”

— Michael Dell

15. “Our business is about technology, yes. But it’s also about operations and customer relationships.”

— Michael Dell

16. “Regrets are born of paths never taken.”

— Michael Dell

17. “If you want to sustain excellence over a long time, you’d better come up with a system that works well. Anyone can sprint for a little while, but you can’t sprint for forty years.”

— Michael Dell

18. “Celebrate for a nanosecond.”

— Michael Dell

19. “Whether you’ve found your calling, or if you’re still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work.”

— Michael Dell

20. “It’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path at Dell. There’s always an opportunity to make a difference.”

— Michael Dell

21. “You can’t be afraid to fail because that’s when you learn.”

— Michael Dell

22. “You just have to change. To be successful, what you have to do is have an acceptance of risk and you have to be pretty explicit about that, because if you don’t accept risk, you don’t get any innovation. And that means part of risk is you have to accept failure because not everything works.”

— Michael Dell

23. “We’ve found that customers are very open. They’ll tell you what’s going on, what’s working and what’s not. They’re looking for help.”

— Michael Dell

24. “The interesting thing is when we design and architect a server, we don’t design it for Windows or Linux, we design it for both. We don’t really care, as long as we’re selling the one the customer wants.”

— Michael Dell

25. “With the understanding that you will face tough times and amazing experiences, you must also commit to the adventure. Just have faith in the skills and the knowledge you’ve been blessed with and go.”

— Michael Dell

26. “If you’re happy, that’s probably the most important thing. Everyone probably has their own definition of success, for me it’s happiness. Do I enjoy what I’m doing? Do I enjoy the people I’m with? Do I enjoy my life?”

— Michael Dell

27. “The very thing you fear could be the best thing to ever happen to you.”

— Michael Dell

28. “If you have to go through life being unhappy to conform to society around you, that’s not a very good deal.”

— Michael Dell

29. “I believe that you have to understand the economics of a business before you have a strategy, and you have to understand your strategy before you have a structure. If you get these in the wrong order, you will probably fail.”

— Michael Dell

30. “Visionaries have the unique ability to dream of what’s possible and then make it a reality. We are excited to watch these visionaries use technology to help students develop skills in collaboration, critical thinking and teamwork that they’ll need to compete in the global economy.”

— Michael Dell

31. “We are all gifts to each other, and my own growth as a leader has shown me again and again that the most rewarding experiences come from my relationships.”

— Michael Dell

32. “By questioning all the aspects of our business, we continuously inject improvement and innovation into our culture.”

— Michael Dell

33. “People ask me all the time, ‘How can I become a successful entrepreneur?’ And I have to be honest: It’s one of my least favorite questions, because if you’re waiting for someone else’s advice to become an entrepreneur, chances are you’re not one.”

— Michael Dell

34. “I have no doubt that in the future, wearable devices like Fitbit will know my blood pressure, hydration levels and blood sugar levels as well. All of this data has the potential to transform modern medicine and create a whole new era of personalized care.”

— Michael Dell

35. “There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.”

— Michael Dell

36. “There are a lot of new things going on in the microprocessor world, including increased focus on power and efficiency.”

— Michael Dell

37. “If you don’t have jobs, it’s hard to have other things like health and education.”

— Michael Dell

38. “If you look at innovation, it doesn’t just occur in the lab.”

— Michael Dell

39. “The idea of being all things to all people is a thing of the past.”

— Michael Dell

40. “I always knew I wanted to run a business someday.”

— Michael Dell

41. “Recognize that there will be failures, and acknowledge that there will be obstacles. But you will learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others, for there is very little learning in success.”

— Michael Dell

42. “I had to give it a full go and see what happened.”

— Michael Dell

43. “Today the world lost a visionary leader, the technology industry lost an iconic legend and I lost a friend and fellow founder. The legacy of Steve Jobs will be remembered for generations to come. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to the Apple team.”

— Michael Dell

44. “One of the things I benefited from when I started this business was that I didn’t know anything. I was just instinct with no preconceived notions. This enabled me to learn and change quickly without having to worry about maintaining any kind of status quo, like some of my bigger competitors.”

— Michael Dell

45. “From the time I was 7, when I purchased my first calculator, I was fascinated by the idea of a machine that could compute things.”

— Michael Dell

46. “One of the things was to create a kind of amnesty environment.”

— Michael Dell

47. “It had always made sense to me to build a business based on what people really wanted, rather than guess what we thought they might want.”

— Michael Dell

48. “I’m a big believer in online communities and in user-generated content.”

— Michael Dell

49. “Twenty years and $40 billion. They seem like good round numbers.”

— Michael Dell

50. “Sometimes it’s better not to ask-or to listen-when tell you something can’t be done. I didn’t ask for permission or approval. I just went ahead and did it.”

— Michael Dell