I'd still say that visiting the stores and listening to our folks was one of the most valuable uses of my time as an executive. But really, our best ideas usually do come from the folks in the stores. Period.

Individuals don't win in business, teams do.

I have always been driven to buck the system, to innovate, to take things beyond where they've been.

Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage.

I had confidence that as long as we did our work well and were good to our customers, there would be no limit to us.

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

After a lifetime of swimming upstream, I am convinced that one of the real secrets to Wal-mart's phenomenal success has been that very tendency.