10 Quotes from Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Even if you don’t own a business, learning about entrepreneurs can serve as a powerful source of motivation, inspiring you to channel strategic effort into your own ideas and passions. The stories of those who have navigated the challenges of building a company can offer invaluable lessons about resilience, creativity, and vision casting.
Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, provides a particularly compelling perspective in his memoir, Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike. In this candid account, Knight shares not only the triumphs and successes that have defined his journey but also the struggles, doubts, and pivotal moments that shaped his path.
Below are 10 quotes from the book that give you a bit of that thoughtfulness, candor, and inspo.
“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, Shoe Dog
“When you see only problems, you’re not seeing clearly.” -Phil Knight, Shoe Dog
“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.” -Phil Knight, Shoe Dog
“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, Shoe Dog
“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, Shoe Dog
“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, Shoe Dog
“Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop. Luck plays a big role. Yes, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the power of luck. Athletes get lucky, poets get lucky, businesses get lucky. Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome.” -Phil Knight, Shoe Dog
“I wanted what everyone wants. To be me, full-time.” -Phil Knight, Shoe Dog
“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, Shoe Dog
“Why is it always so hard to get started?” -Phil Knight, Shoe Dog
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