Simon Sinek is an American best-selling author, an inspirational speaker, and a visionary thinker whose already inspired hundreds of millions of people all over the world. He’s best known for his TED Talk on the concept of WHY, and his viral video on millennials in the workplace. However, he continues to inspire with his leadership development company, ‘The Optimism Company’, and through his podcast, ‘A Bit of Optimism’.
That said, Simon knows a thing or two about success, leadership, and finding a way to live out your best life. As such, we’ve rounded up this collection of the most inspirational and insightful Simon Sinek quotes. Our hope, is that you’ll be able to leverage their wisdom to find the inspiration needed to achieve the success you seek. So, if you’re ready to be inspired, let’s dive into these Simon Sinek quotes.
BEST SIMON SINEK QUOTES FOR SUCCESS
1. “When we work hard for something we don’t believe in, it’s called stress. When we work hard for something we love, it’s called passion.” – Simon Sinek
2. “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.” – Simon Sinek
3. “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – Simon Sinek
4. “The goal is not to be better by the end. The goal is to be better tomorrow.” – Simon Sinek
5. “There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.” – Simon Sinek
6. “The challenge of the unknown future is so much more exciting that the stories of the accomplished past.” – Simon Sinek
7. “If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.” – Simon Sinek
8. “Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left.” – Simon Sinek
9. “You don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.” – Simon Sinek
10. “Dream big. Start small. But most of all, start.” – Simon Sinek
11. “A team is not a group of people that work together. A team is a group of people that trust each other.” – Simon Sinek
12. “A culture is strong when people work with each other, for each other. A culture is weak when people work against each other, for themselves.” – Simon Sinek
13. “When we help ourselves, we find moments of happiness. When we help others, we find lasting fulfillment.” – Simon Sinek
14. “The value of a true leader is not measured by the work they do, but by the work they inspire others to do.” – Simon Sinek
15. “As the Zen Buddhist saying goes, how you do anything is how you do everything.” – Simon Sinek
16. “I find, when you’re an optimist, life has a funny way of looking after you.” – Simon Sinek
17. “When you compete against everyone else, no one wants to help you. But when you compete against yourself, everyone wants to help you.” – Simon Sinek
18. “If the challenge we face doesn’t scare us, then it’s probably not that important.” – Simon Sinek
19. “It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.” – Simon Sinek
20. “Let us all be the leaders we wish we had.” – Simon Sinek
21. “There is an entire section in the bookshop called self-help, but there is no section called help others. We are helping to build the help others industry… And it starts with Optimism.” – Simon Sinek
22. “The single best machine to measure trust is a human being. We haven’t figured out a metric that works better than our own sort of, like, ‘There’s something fishy about you.’” – Simon Sinek
23. “The ability for a group of people to do remarkable things hinges on how well those people can pull together as a team.” – Simon Sinek
24. “We are not victims of our situation. We are the architects of it.” – Simon Sinek
25. “A boss wants to pay for results, an employee wants recognition for effort. If a boss recognizes effort, they will get even better results.” – Simon Sinek
26. “Anyone can sell a product by dropping prices, but it doesn’t breed loyalty.” – Simon Sinek
27. “A leader must be inspired by the people before a leader can inspire the people.” – Simon Sinek
28. “You get to take credit when you also take accountability.” – Simon Sinek
29. “The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe.” – Simon Sinek
30. “Success is when reality catches up to your imagination.” – Simon Sinek
31. “If you can clearly articulate the dream or the goal, start.” – Simon Sinek
32. “Giving doesn’t mean we don’t ask for help. Giving means that we ask for help so that we can better give to others.” – Simon Sinek
33. “Don’t freak yourself out by what others have. They don’t have what you got.” – Simon Sinek
34. “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about take care of those in your charge.” – Simon Sinek
35. “The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.” – Simon Sinek
36. “The most effective leaders are actually better at guarding against danger when they acknowledge that it exists. Cowards, in contrast, cling to the hope that failure will never happen and may be sloppy in the face of danger — not because they don’t acknowledge that it exists, but because they are just too afraid of it to look it in the eye.” – Simon Sinek
37. “Vision is a destination — a fixed point to which we focus all effort. Strategy is a route — an adaptable path to get us where we want to go.” – Simon Sinek
38. “Value is not determined by those who set the price. Value determined by those who choose to pay it.” – Simon Sinek
39. “If you want to feel happy, do something for yourself. If you want to feel fulfilled, do something for someone else.” – Simon Sinek
40. “Integrity is when we say the same thing publicly that we say privately.” – Simon Sinek
41. “The best way to find joy in our lives or overcome struggle is with the help of others.” – Simon Sinek
42. “There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak.” – Simon Sinek
43. “We must all try to empathize before we criticize. Ask someone what’s wrong before telling them they are wrong.” – Simon Sinek
44. “Leadership is a way of thinking, a way of acting and most importantly, a way of communicating.” – Simon Sinek
45. “Life is beautiful not because of the things we see or do. Life is beautiful because of the people we meet.” – Simon Sinek
46. “To think that you’re an expert in anything is a dangerous pursuit. You’re never as good as you could be, there’s always room for improvement.” – Simon Sinek
47. “The mind can be convinced, but the heart must be won.” – Simon Sinek
48. “It is important to celebrate our victories, but we cannot linger on them. For the Infinite Game is still going and there is still much work to be done.” – Simon Sinek
49. “We last longer if we compete against ourselves for the good of others instead of competing against others for the good of ourselves.” – Simon Sinek
50. “Money is fuel and fuel is very important.” – Simon Sinek
51. “My ‘Why’ is to inspire people to do what inspires them.” – Simon Sinek
52. “When we try to please everyone, we end up pleasing no one… lease of all ourselves.” – Simon Sinek
53. “What good is an idea if it remains an idea? Try. Experiment. Iterate. Fail. Try again. Change the world.” – Simon Sinek
54. “Success comes when we wake up every day in that never-ending pursuit of WHY we do WHAT we do.” – Simon Sinek
55. “Leadership is an education and the best leaders think of themselves as the students, no the teachers.” – Simon Sinek
56. “If you say what you believe, and you do what you believe, you will attract people who will believe what you believe.” – Simon Sinek
57. “Value is something people feel, not something we tell them they get.” – Simon Sinek
58. “A boss tells people what they must do to achieve a goal. A leader asks people what they can do to advance a vision.” – Simon Sinek
59. “All managers of metrics have an opportunity to become leaders of people.” – Simon Sinek
60. “The best leaders are the ones that learn to be the last to speak.” – Simon Sinek
61. “Companies that are built for stability can weather hard times, but they rarely improve from it. When we build for resilience, we can actually adapt and come out stronger.” – Simon Sinek
62. “A leader without a title is better than a title without the ability to lead.” – Simon Sinek
63. “The primary ingredient for progress is optimism. The unwavering belief that something can be better drives the human race forward.” – Simon Sinek
65. “Playing the infinite game of life requires an Infinite Mindset in order to succeed.” – Simon Sinek
66. “You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” – Simon Sinek
67. “Self confidence is the ability to exercise restraint in the face of disrespect and still show respect in response.” – Simon Sinek
68. “If you want to achieve anything in this world, you have to get used to the idea that not everyone will like you.” – Simon Sinek
69. “Don’t quit. Never give up trying to build the world you can see, even if others can’t see it. Listen to your drum and your drum only. It’s the one that makes the sweetest sound.” – Simon Sinek
70. “The only way to “Find out if it will work out” is to do it.” – Simon Sinek
71. “Achievement happens when we pursue and attain what we want. Success comes when we are in clear pursuit of Why we want it.” – Simon Sinek
72. “Most of us live our lives by accident—we live as it happens. Fulfillment comes when we live our lives on purpose.” – Simon Sinek
73. “Confidence is believing in yourself. Arrogance is telling others you’re better than they are. Confidence inspires. Arrogance destroys.” – Simon Sinek
74. “If we were good at everything, we would have no need for each other.” – Simon Sinek
75. “Focus on where you’re going and you’ll know what steps to take. Focus on the steps you’re taking and you won’t know where you’re going.” – Simon Sinek
76. “It’s not about the events. It’s not about intensity. It’s about consistency.” – Simon Sinek
77. “You have an entire generation that has access to an addictive numbing chemical called dopamine through social media and cell phones as they are going through the high stress of adolescences.” – Simon Sinek
78. “If you wake up and you check your phone before you say good morning to your girlfriend, boyfriend, or spouse, you have an addiction. And like all addiction, in time it’ll destroy relationships, it will cost time, and it will cost money, and it will make your life worse.” – Simon Sinek
79. “What this young generation needs to learn is patience, that some things that really, really matter, like love, or job fulfillment, joy, love of life, self-confidence, a skill-set, any of these things, all of these things take time.” – Simon Sinek
80. “Always plan for the fact that no plan ever goes according to plan.” – Simon Sinek
81. “There’s another study that was released not that long ago, that says that parents who work late, the negative impact that it has on their children is little to none. They may feel guilty as parents, but the negative impact it has on the raising of their children is little to none. However, parents who come home from jobs they hate or don’t love, their kids are likely to be bullies at school.”
82. “Greatness is not born from one success. It’s born from persevering through the countless failed attempts that preceded.” – Simon Sinek
83. “Success is a team sport. Failure we can do alone. Success takes the help of others.” – Simon Sinek
84. “No matter when or where, always bring your ‘A’ game, because you never know when it will open doors for you.” – Simon Sinek
85. “It’s not about being ranked number one, it’s not about having more followers on Twitter than your friends, its not about outdoing anyone, its about outdoing yourself.” – Simon Sinek
86. “Great leaders don’t blame the tools they are given. They work to sharpen them.” – Simon Sinek
87. “A boss has a title, a leader has the people.” – Simon Sinek
88. “When in doubt, be yourself.” – Simon Sinek
89. “Truly effective and inspiring leaders aren’t’ actually driven to lead people, they are driven to serve them.” – Simon Sinek
90. “The way we find fulfillment is by doing good for others.” – Simon Sinek
91. “Success always takes help. Failure is done alone.” – Simon Sinek
92. “A star wants to see himself rise to the top. A leader wants to see those around him rise to the top.” – Simon Sinek
93. “An entrepreneur is somebody who is constantly looking for a better way to do something, there’s sort of a mad scientist about them.” – Simon Sinek
94. “Very few organizations WHY they do what they do. WHY is not about making money. That’s a result. WHY is a purpose, cause, or belief. It’s the very reason your organization exists.” – Simon Sinek
95. “As it turns out all the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether its Apple, or Martin Luther King, or The Wright Brothers, they all think, act, and communicate the exact same way… and it’s the complete opposite to everyone else.” – Simon Sinek
96. “We don’t get to choose the nature of the game, life is infinite. We don’t even get to choose if we want to play in the game or not, once you’re born, you’re in it. We get one choice, do you want to play with a finite mindset, or do you want to play with an infinite mindset.” – Simon Sinek
97. “There’s two ways to see the world; some people see the thing that they want, and some people see the thing that prevents them from getting the thing that they want.” – Simon Sinek
98. “Passion is the feeling you have, that you’d probably do this for free you know, and you can’t believe somebody pays you to do it.” – Simon Sinek
99. “Sometimes, you’re the problem.” – Simon Sinek
100. “Words may inspire, but only action creates change.” – Simon Sinek
Bonus Simon Sinek Quote
Bonus: Alright, here is our final and favorite Simon Sinek quote. We’ve added it here as bonus, because we believe it can truly help you find success, if you’ll truly believe it.
Related: Simon Sinek Net Worth
FINAL THOUGHTS
You’ve made it to the end of our Simon Sinek quote collection, great job! We hope you found his words both inspiring and insightful. More importantly, we hope they provided you with the clarity needed to become a better leader, live a more fulfilled life, and achieve meaningful success in your career or business.
That said, we appreciate you stopping and we wish you the very best in your efforts of finding the success you seek.
Till you reach your aims,
STRIVE
PS – If you enjoyed these Simon Sinek quotes, then you’ll likely enjoy reading the wise words of equally inspiring thought leaders like Gary Vee, Ryan Holiday, or Tony Robbins.