Phil Knight Quotes & Sayings

I was a linear thinker, and according to Zen linear thinking is nothing but a delusion, one of the many that keep us unhappy. Reality is nonlinear, Zen says. No future, no past. All is now. — Phil Knight

You are remembered, he said, prophetically, for the rules you break. I — Phil Knight

He was easy to talk to, and easy not to talk to-equally important qualities in a friend. Essential in a travel companion. — Phil Knight

My job is to listen to ideas, maybe cook up a few of my own, and make decisions based on what's good for the shareholders and for the company. — Phil Knight

Like it or not, life is a game. — Phil Knight

When you see only problems, you're not seeing clearly. — Phil Knight

I thought back on my running career at Oregon. I'd competed with, and against, men far better, faster, more physically gifted. Many were future Olympians. And yet I'd trained myself to forget this unhappy fact. People reflexively assume that competition is always a good thing, that it always brings out the best in people, but that's only true of people who can forget the competition. The art of competing, I'd learned from track, was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact. You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past. You — Phil Knight

I don't consider myself enigmatic, but I don't spend a lot of time thinking about my public persona. — Phil Knight

At first, we couldn't be establishment, because we didn't have any money. We were guerrilla marketers, and we still are, a little bit. But, as we became No. 1 in our industry, we've had to modify our culture and become a bit more planned. — Phil Knight

It is possible to tell a customer "no", and have the customer thank you for doing it — Phil Knight

I'm Phil Knight, and I don't believe in advertising. — Phil Knight

So that morning in 1962 I told myself: Let everyone else call your idea crazy . . . just keep going. Don't stop. Don't even think about stopping until you get there, and don't give much thought to where "there" is. Whatever comes, just don't stop. — Phil Knight

It doesn't matter how many people you offend, as long as you're getting your message to your consumers. I say to those people who do not want to offend anybody: You are going to have a very, very difficult time having meaningful advertising. — Phil Knight

I'd tell men and women in their midtwenties not to settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don't know what that means, seek it. If you're following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you've ever felt. — Phil Knight

There were many ways down Mount Fuji, according to my guidebook, but only one way up. Life lesson in that, I thought. Signs — Phil Knight

Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool — Phil Knight

The trouble in America is not that we are making too many mistakes, but that we are making too few. — Phil Knight

Perception can be changed — Phil Knight

A brand is something that has a clear-cut identity among consumers, which a company creates by sending out a clear, consistent message over a period of years until it achieves a critical mass of marketing. — Phil Knight

But that's the nature of money. Whether you have it or not, whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not, it will try to define your days. Our task as human beings is not to let it. — Phil Knight

The single easiest way to find out how you feel about someone. Say goodbye. — Phil Knight

We wanted Nike to be the world's best sports and fitness company. Once you say that, you have a focus. You don't end up making wing tips or sponsoring the next Rolling Stones world tour. — Phil Knight

The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us. — Phil Knight

There is an immutable conflict at work in life and in business, a constant battle between peace and chaos. Neither can be mastered, but both can be influenced. How you go about that is the key to success. — Phil Knight

Dare to take chances, lest you leave your talent buried in the ground. — Phil Knight

Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are really part of a very big advertising program, and the fact that they make so much money is because the markets have dictated that they get that money, and the fact that they endorse our products allows us to sell more products and create more jobs. — Phil Knight

Have faith in yourself, but also have faith in faith. Not faith as others define it. Faith as you define it. Faith as faith defines itself in your heart. In — Phil Knight

Play by the rules, but be ferocious. — Phil Knight

Sports is like rock 'n' roll. Both are dominant cultural forces, both speak an international language, and both are all about emotions. — Phil Knight

Make history or be a part of it. — Phil Knight

Driving back to Portland I'd puzzle over my sudden success at selling. I'd been unable to sell encyclopedias, and I'd despised it to boot. I'd been slightly better at selling mutual funds, but I'd felt dead inside. So why was selling shoes so different? Because, I realized, it wasn't selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place, and I believed these shoes were better to run in. People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves. Belief, I decided. Belief is irresistible. Sometimes — Phil Knight

Up until the time I was 14 years old, I was sure that I was going to be a big-league baseball player. But that dream came to a rude awakening when I got cut from my high school baseball team. — Phil Knight

You can't explain much in 60 seconds, but when you show Michael Jordan, you don't have to. It's that simple. — Phil Knight

We used to think that everything started in the lab. Now we realize that everything spins off the consumer. — Phil Knight

It's alright to be Goliath but always act like David. — Phil Knight

Like books, sports give people a sense of having lived other lives, of taking part in other people's victories. And defeats. When sports are at their best, the spirit of the fan merges with the spirit of the athlete. — Phil Knight

I truly believe the American consumer doesn't want to buy products made under abusive conditions. — Phil Knight

Dream audaciously. Have the courage to fail forward. Act with urgency. — Phil Knight

How can I leave my mark on the world, I thought, unless I get out there first and see it? — Phil Knight

I refused to even consider ordering less inventory. Grow or die, that's what I believed, no matter the situation. — Phil Knight

Meeting sports athletes that are the best in the world is a thrill to this day. — Phil Knight

It's never just business. It never will be. If it ever does become just business, that will mean that business is very bad. — Phil Knight

We could see that he was a charismatic guy who jumps over the moon and is very competitive, but nobody could have predicted what he would become to our culture. — Phil Knight

I still get real nervous when I go in front of more than two people. — Phil Knight