"The stars will never align, and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. 'Someday' is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it 'eventually,' just do it and correct course along the way."

"The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new."

"I got lucky because I never gave up the search. Are you quitting too soon? Or, are you willing to pursue luck with a vengeance?"

"I talk a lot about taking risks, and then I follow that up very quickly by saying, ‘Take prudent risks."

"Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be."

"Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined and connected to one another. And, when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives."

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

"You don’t need to be a genius or a visionary, or even a college graduate for that matter, to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream."

"When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for people telling you that you are nuts."

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

"Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create."

"Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement"

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

"If you can't fly then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

"It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change."

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him."

"Make every detail perfect, and limit the number of details to perfect."

"It doesn’t matter how many times you fail. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because all that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are."

"What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed."

"If you can push through that feeling of being scared, that feeling of taking a risk, really amazing things can happen."

MARISSA MAYER

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