Expenses should never exceed one percent of our purchases.

I guess in all my years, what I heard more than anything else was: a mere town cannot support a discount store for very long.

I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you. I did that in college. I did it when I carried my papers. I would always look ahead and speak to the person coming toward me. If I knew them, I would call them by name, but even if I didn't I would still speak to them. Before long, I probably knew more students than anybody in the university, and they recognized me and considered me their friend.

The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’. They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.

Curiosity doesn't kill the cat; it kills the competition.

There is only one boss. The customer.

A computer can tell you down to the dime what you've sold, but it can never tell you how much you could have sold.