Mary Kay Ash was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. She is credited with popularizing the “pink cadillac” as a status symbol among salespeople. In this blogpost I have shared 84 inspiring Mary Kay Ash quotes.
Born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in 1915 in Houston. In 1963, Ash founded Mary Kay Cosmetics with $5,000 of her own savings and two door-to-door salesmen. The company grew quickly, and by 1967 it was operating in all 50 states.
was a successful American entrepreneur and the company’s creator. She left behind a $98 million inheritance, and her business had more than $1.2 billion in sales and more than 800,000 salespeople working in at least 30 different countries at the time of her death.
84 Mary Kay Ash Quotes
- “People who succeed have a goal, a dream, and make their plans and follow them.”
2. “Never give up, because you never know if the next try is going to be the one that works.”
3. “A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one.”
4. “If you do ask questions and are subtle about it, you are expressing a genuine interest in what the other person has to say.”
5. “There’s a big difference between a decisive manager and a tyrant.”
6. “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe remember you can achieve.”
7. “The first step is the hardest — making the commitment to yourself, for yourself.”
8. “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.”
9. “The only true failure is the person who gives up.”
10. “It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.”
Inspirational Mary Kay Ash Quotes
11. “Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.”
12. “The greatest polution problem we face today is negativity. ”
13. “If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you.”
14. The greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity. Eliminate the negative attitude and believe you can do anything. Replace ‘if I can’ or ‘I hope’ or ‘maybe’ with ‘I can,’ ‘i will’ and ‘I must”.
15. “Within yourself lies everything you ever dreamed of being. Become everything that God wants you to be. It is within your reach.”
16. “The most important justification for being in business is service to others. Every new business must be built upon the premise, since wanting to make money or desiring to ‘dabble’ in a favorite pastime are not enough to sustain such a venture. The business must fulfill a need.”
17. “What the world thinks of me is none of my business.”
18. “The only difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is extraordinary determination.”
19. “God didn’t have time to make a nobody, only a somebody. I believe that each of us has God-given talents within us waiting to be brought to fruition.”
20. “My goal in life is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, she cared”
Famous Mary Kay Ash Quotes
21. “Be a dreamer. Have a sense of greatness. It has been said that if you can dream it, you can do it. And I believe that.”
22. “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.”
23. “The greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity.”
24. “The most important justification for being in business is service to others.”
25. “People are happiest when they have goals, small and large, because they can look forward to attaining them.”
26. “Aim high enough that you will have to stretch your ability and your potential to reach it.”
27. “Consider the price actors and actresses are willing to pay for recognition, that one chance in a thousand to ‘make it to the top’.”
28. “Before your dream can become a reality, you have to see it in your own mind; see its fulfillment, whatever it may be.”
29. “Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, “Make me feel important.” Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.”
30. “Many of the problems I hear don’t require me to offer solutions. I solve most of them by just listening and letting the involved party do the talking.”
Motivational Mary Kay Ash Quotes
31. “The power of positive motivation in a goal-oriented structure such as ours cannot be overstated.”
33. “Just as a fine restaurant extends itself to make its customers feel special, we do everything we can to make our people feel the same way.”
34. “Good people managers are likely to listen more than they speak. Perhaps that’s why we were given two ears and only one mouth.”
35. “Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.”
36. “Do not desire to fit in. Desire to lead.”
37. “People are happiest when they have goals, small and large, because they can look forward to attaining them.”
38. “Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.”
38. “In a career you either go forward or backward, but you don’t stand still. Everyone must continually improve his or her skills in a lifetime self-improvement program.”
39. “Never rest on your laurels. Nothing wilts faster than a laurel sat upon.”
40. “I believe everyone in America has countless opportunities. But you cannot sit and wait for those opportunities to come knocking at your door. You have to make things happen.”
Positive Mary Kay Ash Quotes
41. “An average person with average talents and average ambition can outstrip the most brilliant genius in our society; if that person has clear focused goals.”
42. “Leaders make sure that the way to success is always broad enough and straight enough for others to follow.”
43. “I’ve never yet met a person who didn’t want to be appreciated.”
43. “Sandwich every bit of criticism between two heavy layers of praise.”
44. “There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.”
45. “God does not ask your ability Or your inability. He asks only your availability.”
46. “Every achievement, big or small, begins in your mind.”
47. “You cannot keep determined people from success. If you place stumbling blocks in their way, they will use them for stepping stones and climb to new heights.”
48. “Each person whose hand I shake is the most important person in the world to me at that moment.”
49. “It’s easy to be enthusiastic when everything is going smoothly. But the real test of one’s mettle is to maintain enthusiasm under adverse conditions.”
50. “My definition of happiness is having something to do what you love to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to.”
Mary Kay Ash Quotes To Live By
51. “Don’t let the negatives of life control you. Rise above them. Use them as your stepping stones to go higher than you ever dreamed possible.”
52. “Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.”
53. “God does not ask your ability or your inability. He asks only your availability.”
54. “Frankly, I think it means more for a woman to be recognized by her peers onstage than to receive an expensive present in the mail that nobody knows about!”
55. “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.”
56. “Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.”
57. “Be a dreamer. Have a sense of greatness. It has been said that if you can dream it, you can do it. And I believe that. Before your dream can become a reality, you have to see it in your own mind; see its fulfillment, whatever it may be.”
58. “The more enjoyment people derive from their work, the better they will produce.”
59. “Before you ever receive the wonderful treasures of a happy life, you must first give. Give of yourself.”
60. “While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence, which, I believe, does make the woman.”
Thought-Provoking Mary Kay Ash Quotes
61. “Every leader should understand that God has planted seeds of greatness in every human being.”
62. “Your attitude determines your altitude. It really is true that If you think you can, you can; and if you think you can’t – you’re right.”
63. “Everyone wears a sign that says “Make me feel important”
64. “In fact, depending on how much you earn, you can afford to pay somebody to do almost anything you don’t like to do.”
65. “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.”
66. “There are two things people want more than sex and money: recognition and praise.”
67. “People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.”
68. “It’s possible that some women have a more difficult time handling criticism than do men. Some just take criticism more personally.”
69. “In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.”
70. “When everybody is motivated to serve others, everybody benefits.”
71. “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.”
72. “Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.”
73. “Recognition is the most powerful of all motivating techniques.”
74. “Make every day count. Make every hour count. Make every minute count. And don’t stop until you have exercised your full potential, realizing your impossible dream and fulfilling your total destiny to become the person that you, and only you , are capable of being.”
75. “Every person should have a lifetime self-improvement program.”
76. “It’s Pollyannaish not to express your feelings when someone has done something wrong. But it must be done tactfully; otherwise, your criticism will be destructive.”
77. “Individuals sometimes feel insignificant and doubt that one person can really make a difference in this world. Well, believe me, one person can.”
78. “One of the secrets of success is to refuse to let temporary setbacks defeat us.”
79. “Hope is wishing for something to come true. Faith is belief that it will come true. Believe that for every problem God gives you, He will also provide you with a solution.”
80. “Productive people are usually so involved in their jobs they don’t have time to complain.”
81. “Never forget, your family should always have priority over your work.”
82. “When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.”
83. “Sandwich every bit of criticism between two layers of praise.”
84. There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. We all have a choice. You can decide which type of person you want to be. I have always chosen to be in the first group.
85. “I believe every person has the ability to achieve something important, and with that in mind I regard everyone as special. A manager should feel this way about people, but it’s an attitude that can’t be faked. You’ve got to be honestly convinced that every human being is important.”