Top 30 Phil Knight Quotes

If there was no Bill Bowerman, there would have been no me. He had about as much of an impact on my life as any one person could have. He taught me about competition and ingrained it in me. He taught me not to praise ordinary performances.

Every businessman, or every person who has a passion for his work, is torn for the time spent at work and the time spent with your family.

I didn’t say I’m walking away. I said I was stepping down as chairman. I won’t walk away. I’ll be carried away.

I don’t consider myself enigmatic, but I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my public persona.

We could see that he was a charismatic guy who jumps over the moon and is very competitive, but nobody could have predicted what he would become to our culture.

No parent should have their child die before he or she does.

Up until the time I was 14 years old, I was sure that I was going to be a big-league baseball player. But that dream came to a rude awakening when I got cut from my high school baseball team.

We wanted Nike to be the world’s best sports and fitness company. Once you say that, you have a focus. You don’t end up making wing tips or sponsoring the next Rolling Stones world tour.

When you really understand who you are, it enables you to fight and believe.

I know when the Berlin wall went down and I walked into what was East Berlin and saw two big Nike banners – that gave me a chill.

I think a businessman can be an artist just as much as a writer or a sculptor, so I’m real proud of what the company has become.

I’ve been fortunate to be around good people.

I do believe that international trade agreements benefit both nations, always.

There is an immutable conflict at work in life and in business, a constant battle between peace and chaos. Neither can be mastered, but both can be influenced. How you go about that is the key to success.

I’ve said many times that I might as well have webs between my toes.

A shoe dog is somebody that really loves shoes, and that was me. I was a runner… that became important to me, and it’s been with me ever since.

I think everyone born in Oregon is an environmentalist by birth.

If there’s one thing, I’ve been pretty good at evaluating people.

I think I’m not a natural-born salesman, for sure, but If I have a product I really believe in, I can overcome some of the shyness and get through the things that aren’t natural to me.

If you’re trying to get into the sports business, you really have to find a niche.

Sports is like rock ‘n’ roll. Both are dominant cultural forces, both speak an international language, and both are all about emotions.

In running, the only equipment that really matters – at least the mentality was in those days – were the pair of shoes that you wore.

When we changed from Tiger to Nike, we had to have a design for the shoe. And where do you go to? There’s no ‘dial 9-1-1’ for design.

We knew we could fail; we just didn’t think we would.

When I took the entrepreneurship class at Stanford, the first lecture was about an entrepreneur and his personality. They described it as being different than a businessman, who is an overall scientific manager.

You can’t explain much in 60 seconds, but when you show Michael Jordan, you don’t have to. It’s that simple.

Running is a basic ingredient for your health, just as much as eating and sleeping, but going out for a run by yourself and taking a moment to think also creates a certain peace.

I still get real nervous when I go in front of more than two people.

The trouble in America is not that we are making too many mistakes, but that we are making too few.

Obviously, the bulk of my Nike shares have been set up in a trust.