Phil Knight

“When you make something, when you improve something, when you deliver something, when you add some new thing or service to the lives of strangers, making them happier or healthier or safer o...”

“I’d tell men and women in their midtwenties not to settle for a job or a profession or even a career. Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what that means, seek it. If you’re following you...”

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

“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...”

“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.”

“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 overal...”

“We took advantage of the running boom, which became the jogging boom, which became the fitness boom... and we've benefited from all of that.”

“The thing that got us going early was the running boom. And then, I think, we rode the Jordan bit, which then kind of crossed us over into the pop culture.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“If there's one thing, I've been pretty good at evaluating people.”

“At first, we couldn't be establishment, because we didn't have any money. We were guerrilla marketers, and we still are, a little bit. But, as we became No. 1 in our industry, we've had to m...”

“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 k...”

“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....”

“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.”

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