I'd hate to see any descendants of mine fall into the category of what I'd call 'idle rich' - a group I've never had much use for.

You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.

I not only knew I wanted to go into retailing, I also knew I wanted to go into business for myself.

Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.

Keep everybody guessing as to what your next trick is going to be. Don't become too predictable.

I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.

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.