It's already been posted, but here's mine.

Under promise, over deliver.

There's never enough time to do it right at first, but there's always enough time to re-do it.
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Something I live by.

"No one ever got rich spending money"

I think that also applies to running a business.

So often I've see people who have just started a new business spending money instead of reinvesting in their business. For example, suddenly a new car appears.
And guess what happens next. At some point the new venture fails and they're cleaning up the mess.

"In God we trust. All others bring verified data."

What my mother taught me, "Cheaters never prosper."

However the inverse of this is also true. I've seen business fail because the people were too cheap to properly make a go at it by having inventory, good staff, or marketing themselves.

The most successful guy I know says you have to spend money to make money.

As quoted by a buddies very successful dad :

"When I'm on my deathbed I'm probably not going to be thinking :
Gee, I wish I spent more time in the office"

I'd call that investing not spending.

Spending is buying crap that doesn't help your business.

As a management consultant for over 30 years, here are some of my favorites, and some funny analogies...
"Methodology is an aid to thinking, not a substitute for it"
On change management, "understanding human behavior does not make one immune from it"
On presentations, "you don't want to look out and see the audience looking like dogs watching tv"
First liar doesn't stand a chance
On ill-planned technology roll outs, "give a monkey a machine gun and sooner or later someone is going to get hurt"
"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable ". Dwight D. Eisenhower
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea". Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things". Nicole Machiavelli
And finally, In case you need a definition for what I do, a consultant is someone who knows over 200 ways to make love, but doesn't know any women

Thanks Blue Tone...this one resonates:

Another good one: "Plan your work and work your plan"

I recently participated in a local project where the owner did not have a plan and it was (IMHO) a very haphazard chaotic operation. Lots of angst from those involved. I stayed out on the fringe as much as possible because I detected early on it would be in my best interest to stay as far as possible away from the project. So at the end of the project the owner's wife comes up to me and says "Oh my - I can see now how we may a mistake in not including more areas for plants....but things were happening so fast....we didn't have a lot of time to think about what we were doing."

Well....I attended two pre-project planning 'meetings' and at both meetings I asked for a schematic of the floor plan. They did not have one needless to say. But I not only asked...I strongly suggested getting one together even if it was something scribbled on a napkin! They had plenty of time but were over their heads in their 'roles' as owners trying to manage a project.

BTW, the project would have gone very smoothly if they had let a local architect be involved but they chose not to (probably to save $). I'll never understand how they didn't understand the importance of planning. SMH....

My top five:

1. In God we trust, all others bring data.
2. You have two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion.
3. Be respectful of the past, realistic about the present, and optimistic about the future.
4. The first report from the field is always wrong.
5. Managers count people, leaders make people count.

"Pigs get eaten!"
.
What a self-employed ex g/f used to say.

had always heard "pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered"

Maybe that's it - 'been a long time...;)

I never heard that one...just looked it up.

Here's the meaning:

It pays to be greedy, but not too greedy or else you’ll get in trouble. If you get too greedy like a hog, you can end up loosing it all.

There's a lot of truth to that!

Some great posts here from some obviously wise individuals....Thanks!

"In God we trust, ...all others pay cash."

"Keep your friends close...your enemies closer."

Re: "In God we trust...all others pay cash!"

Funny story...a friend's father had his fishing boat up for sale a number of years ago and one day a local priest came over to look at the boat as he was interested in buying it. He made an offer of (not sure the exact amount) $2000.00. The seller agreed to the offer so long as it was a cash offer. The priest said "Well I'm a priest so I would like to write you a cheque if you don't mind?" The seller replied "Well if you're a priest then I'll definitely insist on it being cash!" My friend, who was there to help out his father, just cracked up!:D The priest was dumbfounded! Needless to say he returned the next day with cash in hand!:rolleyes:

1) Only the paranoid survive.
2) It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys.
3) 98% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

This is why most architects (including me) can't stand residential work. Homeowners are the cheapest, most inflexibly opinionated and self-righteous type of client. They expect you to design, redesign and re-redesign for peanuts and very few can get their egos and opinions out of the way and let us do what we're trained to do - identify their needs and offer the best design solutions for them, while being considerate of their budgets and schedules. That's a SERVICE people - and yes, you're expected to pay for it. It's not cheap but it's a lot cheaper than getting taken advantage of by some sleazeball residential hammer-swinger who can and will rip you apart for your indecisions and prattling about and creating "delays".

I've done enough residential to mKe me thank my lucky stars I do commercial and civic work. Anyone that can make commercial / retail clients look desirable has got to suck! :)

I'm on the developer side now, which is quite nice; I've been approached for residential work on the side a few times which I always politely decline. Yes, I hate to turn down work, but it's just not worth the hassle. BTDT!