Play the Long Game Quotes
Choose a Pillar of Greatness
Pick a Type of Insight
“Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast.”
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
“As you sow, so shall you reap.”
“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”
“Slow and steady wins the race.”
“I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008, but it didn't happen overnight. It took me 30 years to get to where I am today.”
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
“The key factor in my strategy is longevity”
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.”
“The creative person is willing to live with ambiguity. He doesn't need problems solved immediately and can afford to wait for the right ideas.”
“I’m here to build something for the long term. Anything else is a distraction”
“Don't give up what you want most for what you want now.”
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
“The strongest of all warriors are these two - Time and Patience.”
“When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.”
“The media wants overnight successes so they have someone to tear down. Ignore them. Listen instead to your real customers, to your vision and make something for the long haul.”
“All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.”
“During the day you should behave in such a way that you can sleep at night in peace; and in your youth you should behave in such a way that you can live in your old age in peace.”
“What appears to be sudden success is often the result of years of hard work and perseverance.”
“Little by little, one travels far.”
“Never give up: Great things take time.”
“We are kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.”
“Rome wasn't built in a day.”
“Did you ever consider how ridiculous it would be to try to cram on a farm, to forget to plant in the spring, play all summer and then cram in the fall to bring in the harvest? The farm is a natural system. The price must be paid and the process followed. You always reap what you sow; there is no shortcut.”
“Our favorite holding period is forever”
“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”
“The years teach much which the days never know.”
“In most things success depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.”
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
“Make haste slowly.”
“Genius is eternal patience.”
“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”
“To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first.”
“In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”
“Infinite patience produces immediate results.”
“Macro patience, micro speed.”
“You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time.”
“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”
“The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs, one step at a time.”
“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient”
“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
“If people knew how hard I worked to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”
“No great thing is created suddenly.”
“Be brutally honest about the short term, and optimistic and confident about the long term.”
“There is no shortcut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything.”
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time - so remember: great achievements take time, there is no overnight success.”
“Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.”
“Our strategy is to invest in the long term”
“Focus on the long game - quick wins fade fast”
“The road to success is always under construction.”
“Success each day should be judged by the seeds sown, not the harvest reaped.”
“It takes 20 years to make an overnight success.”
“Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.”
“Impatience never commanded success.”
“The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting.”
“Play long-term games with long-term people.”
“Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness.”
“The difficult can be done immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.”
“There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.”
“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.”
“The end goal is to build generationally defining businesses, and that doesn't happen quickly. It's about taking the foundations of what we've built, not sacrificing any of your principles and still being able to grow and to thrive.”
“I was an overnight success all right, but thirty years is a long, long night.”
“Life isn't a sprint; it's a marathon.”
“Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.”
“In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience.”
“Entrepreneurs must be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.”
