Reading List
The 2026 Reading List
A yearly favourite with our readers — and the page founders tell us they save.
Our 2026 picks — lines worth keeping, from the books founders come back to. Collected by the Business Stories Magazine editorial desk.
Customers don’t care how much time something takes to build. They care only if it serves their needs.
But you are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn't making you stronger, they're making you weaker..
The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.
Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language
The new reality is that working at a job may be the far riskier choice.
The best way to change your life is to find people who’ve already achieved what you want and then model their behavior.
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..
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
you’ve invented something new but you haven’t invented an effective way to sell it, you have a bad business—no matter how good the product.
Obviously building a character of total integrity and living the life of love and service that creates such unity isn’t easy. It isn’t quick fix. But it’s possible.
persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort.
What would you do if you weren't afraid?
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
Good is the enemy of great.
If your business depends on you, you don't own a business — you have a job.
People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
Planning is guessing.
The only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition.
Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.
The struggle is where greatness comes from.
No deal is better than a bad deal.
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said.