Seth Godin Quotes

All business proceeds on beliefs, or judgements of probabilities, and not on certainties.

All business proceeds on beliefs, or judgments of probabilities, and not on certainties.

Foresight is not about predicting the future, it's about minimizing surprise.

We have been trying to point out that this concept of an indefinitely favorable future is dangerous, even if it is true; because even if it is true you can easily overvalue the security, since you make it worth anything you want it to be worth. Beyond this, it is particularly dangerous too, because sometimes your ideas of the future turn out to be wrong. Then you have paid an awful lot for a future that isn't there. Your position then is pretty bad.

The biggest risk is not taking any risk.

I'm not sure at all that I'm any good at this mentoring/investing business - that's why I'm using my own money, and that's why it's not a career.

People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.

If you want to avoid all risks, soon you will have no risks to worry about.

All market response results from a reduction of uncertainty.

They all overvalued the importance of stability.

I think that we have to be constantly asking ourselves, 'How do we calculate the risk?' And sometimes we don't calculate it correctly; we either overstate it or understate it.

Nobody can really guarantee the future. The best we can do is size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to deal with them and then make our plans with confidence.

Tomorrow always arrives. It is always different. And even the mightiest company is in trouble if it has not worked on the future. Being surprised by what happens is a risk that even the largest and richest company cannot afford, and even the smallest business need not run.

In today's rapidly changing world, the people who are not taking risk are the risk takers.

In order to be in control, you have to have a definite plan for at least a reasonable period of time. So how, may I ask, can man be in control if he can't even draw up a plan for a ridiculously short period of time, say, a thousand years, and is, moreover, unable to ensure his own safety for even the next day?

Time enough to think of the future when you haven't any future to think of.

You don't know where a sport can take you, so I want to make sure that I have an education behind me in case things don't work out.

There is the risk you cannot afford to take, and there is the risk you cannot afford not to take.

People don't expect to die tomorrow, but they do take out insurance, don't they?

If you try to measure the future, you will never risk the present. Playing it safe. A ghastly game.

One must plan for the future and anticipate the future without fearing the future.

I've never counted my chickens before they've hatched.

The longer you stay in one place, the greater your chance of disillusionment.

All you can do is every day, try to solve a problem and make your company better. You can't worry about it, you can't panic when you look at the stock market's decline. You get frozen like a deer in the headlights. All you can do is all you can do.