We innovate by starting with the customer and working backwards. That becomes the touchstone for how we invent.

We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and thy're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.

Are you lazy or just incompetent?

I'm going to go do this crazy thing. I'm going to start this company selling books online.

Any business plan won't survive its first encounter with reality. The reality will always be different. It will never be the plan.

All businesses need to be young forever. If your customer base ages with you, you're Woolworth's.

I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.