Many in a business environment find it difficult to locate the right words of inspiration, humor or sentiment, but they need look no further than the sage advice provided by famous quotes. British statesman and literary figure Benjamin Disraeli once said, "The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotation." To draw on this wisdom and experience is to provide just the right words—and feelings— that those around us are seeking.

In the multitude of famous quote collections available, we can find the perfect expressions of motivation, sympathy, support and laughter. Before beginning your search for famous quotes and sayings, there are a few questions to keep in mind:

1. Who is this quote for? A single staff member or your entire team? A vendor that's done something above and beyond your expectations? A customer whose repeat business is deeply appreciated?

2. How much do you know of this person's personality? Are you comfortable deciding the appropriateness of various famous quotes and their sources?

3. How do you want to present your quote? A card, a print, a book? Or something else entirely, a unique expression of support?

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Browse famous quote collections online

The Internet is a terrific resource in the quest to find famous quotes. There are multitudes of quotation collections online, most of which are easily searchable and broken down by subject and author.

I recommend: The Quotations Page is the web's oldest quote site with an impressive compilation of sayings. You can also check out their forums page to ask questions about quotes, or to enlist aid in finding the perfect one. Famous Quotes is another collection site with nearly 54,000 selections, from the inspiring to the silly.

Seek out world famous quotes on greeting cards, art or other gifts

Whether your quote is for the benefit of one person or an entire group, there are cards, posters and other gifts available to best showcase your sentiments.

I recommend: "The Quote Line" by Borealis Press, found exclusively at QuoteArts.com, is a collection of creative quotation cards for all occasions. You can find famous Bible quotes for inspiration and comfort on the cards and gifts at God Thoughts. If a motivational poster or print is what you seek, Art Inspires carries a beautiful selection of art with famous motivational quotes. The folks at CafePress have a huge selection of quotes for all occasions, printed on everything from t-shirts to magnets to stickers.

Choose a unique approach by personalizing your presentation of famous quotes

When in doubt, personalize it! Get famous leadership quotes of your choosing printed in a booklet, or famous office quotes emblazoned on magnets. The possibilities are endless. If you just can't find the perfect way to present your quote, have it printed on an item of your choice.

I recommend: PrintingBlue will personalize an array of products, including booklets, greeting cards, bookmarks and stickers. They sell in bulk, so this is a great way to stock up for the entire office. Just pick your famous quote and decide what media best suits your needs. Also, check out Personal Creations, a great choice for a more personal gift, including personalized apparel so you can emblazon your famous quotes on t-shirts or sweatshirts.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When selecting a saying, don't be afraid to be daring. Famous quotes are powerful tools of expression and the more unique you are in your choice, the more people will remember your support.

Famous quotes and sayings of all types can have an inspirational effect on both you and your employees. Whether your goal is to inspire yourself to lead, encourage your teams to collaborate or challenge individual employees to excel, you'll find many famous quotes that will serve your purpose well.

Many websites present famous quotes that you can use in your business. Famous American quotes, as well as many world-famous quotes, can remind you, your managers and other workers of the time-tested principles of achievement and success that are often forgotten during the heat of the business "battle." Some business advantages of reading famous quotations are:

1. You'll learn from the experience of others.
2. You'll begin practicing great leadership principles now.
3. You'll be inspired to become the greatest leader you can be.
4. You'll learn how better to inspire your own employees.
5. You'll learn to better appreciate and serve your customers.

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Inspire yourself to succeed by reading famous quote collections online

Inspiration to lead your company with vision and handle its affairs with wisdom can be difficult to come by. While facing the daily challenges of making your business successful, you'll benefit from reading the words of wisdom of the business and leadership icons who have preceded you.

I recommend: Inspirational Quotes Café offers a group of famous inspirational quotes for the workplace. Woopidoo.com provides a collection of famous inspiring quotes from business leaders and others, conveniently listed alphabetically by author's last name. ThinkExist.com offers a helpful collection of business quotes divided into categories based either on the famous individual quoted or the quote topic. Brain Betty provides an unusually inspiring group of both anonymous and famous inspirational quotes.

Motivate your employees with quotes that target their success

Management can benefit from famous leadership quotes, and individual employees can profit from quotes that motivate them to achieve. Quotes which target specific business areas, such as famous historical quotes on selling, can also help your people do their best.

I recommend: SaveATreeCards helps you encourage standout performance with its collection of ecards featuring famous motivational quotes on innovation. It also provides no shortage of appropriate quotations to adorn its achievement cards, success cards and other business-related ecard lines. Quotes that target specialized areas, (e.g., quotes about selling), can also help generate enthusiasm and encourage your employees to excel. Consider using such specialized quotations to customize the blank ecards you'll find on the SaveATree website along with the company's pre-printed ecard lines.

Collect famous motivational quotes to use in your business when needed

You can liven up presentations, speeches, employee meetings and newsletters with motivational quotations. Keeping a collection of famous quotes can be a great idea so that you'll have them handy when they are needed.

I recommend: The Quote Garden and Quote DB contain many insightful quotes on business topics which you can add to your collection. Aphids Communications provides several famous humorous quotes among its group of business and employment-related quotations. PXC Consultants offers quite a few great quotations about customers, competition, marketing, leadership and more.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Realize that famous quotes represent more than simple idealism or mere wit. Many grow out of the years of experience of well-known and highly regarded leaders and successful captains of industry who have learned their hard-won lessons in the trenches. Whatever lessons you can learn from them today will be lessons you won't have to learn the hard way as they did.

If you've never considered using quotes in your business, now is the time to stop and take a look at famous quotes for beginners. There is myriad uses for famous quote collections in the business world. Perhaps you wish to inspire yourself or your employees; if you can't find the right words, try some famous, inspiring quotes. Or perhaps you want to add humor to your speeches but don't feel like much of a comedian; then famous humorous quotes are for you. Or maybe you need to spice up your press releases, business newsletters or other company writings; using world famous quotes is an easy way to do this.

When you're trying to find famous quotes, there are several steps you can take. You might choose to use all the resources available to you, or using just one might prove easier and quicker.

Whatever the case, do:

1. Take a look at famous short quotes on the web.

2. Research books with famous quotes and sayings.

3. Take advantage of quote of the day services.

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Seek famous quotes for beginners on the Internet

Whether you're seeking famous office quotes, famous motivational quotes or even famous bible quotes, a quick and easy way to find them is on the web. There are many free quote websites to choose from. Larger ones are often best for the business person since they tend to offer a broad range of quote types, arranged by category and author.

I recommend: BrainyMedia.com offers a terrific collection of famous quotes, organized by author, subject matter and type. Famous Quotes provides a similar service, complete with search features, browsing categories and rankings of the "most quoted" quotes.

Explore books for famous short quotes

While websites are free, quick and handy, sometimes you can spend a great deal of time searching through them and still not come up with the right famous historical quotes, famous American quotes or famous inspirational quotes. Therefore, it's a good idea to have one or two excellent books of quotations on hand.

I recommend: "The Yale Book of Quotations" by Fred Shapiro is considered one of the finest and most accurate books of quotations available. Quotes are given alphabetically by author or speaker. The book is available from Powell's City of Books. Another well-thought-of book of quotations is "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations" by John Bartlett and Justin Kaplan, available from Moonshadow Technologies.

Utilize famous quotes of the day subscriptions

If you want a daily dose of inspiration or don't have time to search through books or websites, consider subscribing to a quote of the day service. Through a quick and easy subscription form, you can receive quotes in your e-mail box, free of charge.

I recommend: Quote-of-the-Day offers a free quote service; simply subscribe and receive quotes in your e-mail box. QuotationsPage.com also provides a free subscription; click on "Subscribe to Quotes of the Day with our Email Service or with your newsreader" to participate.

What do famous quotes have to do with business? Well, there are many ways a business leader, staffer, executive or manager can use famous quotes to brighten a day, or to get a critical message out in a way that will get noticed. Famous quotes can provide a medium for discussing teamwork, initiative, honesty, respect, and much more that will be useful in the workplace. Taking a look at some key terms for using famous quotes at work might help a reader get some ideas for his or her own enterprise.

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Stock audio

Stock audio is a sound file that a company sells to another from a large library. Businesses can use stock audio sellers to get clips of famous quotes recorded for posterity.

I recommend: See more on stock audio and other audio file formats at Stock in Action.

Email signatures

Another way that business managers commonly use famous quotes is in email signatures. Email signatures are the pre-programmed text that appears at the end of an email. In business, it's become almost cliché for a manager to communicate through a quote in an email signature. However, many report that these kinds of electronic messages are often effective.

I recommend: Check out a list of famous quotes to use as email signatures at Coolsig.

Target audience

A target audience is the people a message is intended for. When using famous quotes in a business role, make sure you know who your target audience is. This is important for internal communications (trying to strike the right note with a department of staffers) but is as much or more important in communicating to clients or customers.

I recommend: See definitions of the target audience and how to identify it at Tappernet.

Motivational posters

Another big use for famous quotes is in motivational posters. Motivational posters are wall hanging framed print pages that a company can buy pre-made or design themselves. The key is to get a picture that fits with the famous quote that the designer has selected.

I recommend: Find motivational quotes for posters and pictures at InspireMe.

Mission statement

A mission statement is a document explaining the direction that the company wants to go in, as well as identifying the nature of a business and its goals. Business leaders sometimes use famous quotes to give ballast to a mission statement.

I recommend: See more on the mission statement at Business Plans.

E-cards

E-cards are electronic versions of printed cards that a business manager might use to communicate to someone either within or outside the business. E-cards sometimes contain famous quotes as a way to send a defined message.

I recommend: See e-cards with famous quotations at Send Wise Cards.