Dick Smith Quotes
120 Dick Smith Quotes
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I’m proud that we ran good honest businesses, paid our taxes, never went broke and gave work to many thousands of Australians.
Dick Smith
[On saying to journalists that a computer was useless and that he couldn’t understand why anyone would want to buy one and the journalists responding ‘Then why are you selling them?’] Because I can sell them cheaper and you waste less of your money.
Dick Smith
Flying is 400 times safer than travelling by road. In the past twenty years 60,000 Australian’s have died on our roads, but not one person has been killed on a jet aircraft.
Dick Smith
[On starting a new business during a recession] It’s time to stop whingeing and blaming others and get out and give it a go!
Dick Smith
Ike, [Ike Bain] isn’t it quite simple? If you buy something for $1 and you sell it for $2 and you keep your costs low you must make a profit.
Dick Smith
Unspoiled nature is one of the greatest gifts Australia has.
Dick Smith
I’m not superstitious – the harder Dick Smith works the luckier he gets. But I have absolutely no qualifications.
Dick Smith
Certificate of Management by the Seat of Your Pants. Let me give you one later…
Dick Smith
In one stage my business was in receivership. $18,000 of stock was stolen and I was the lowest of the low.
Dick Smith
I realised there was a lot of money selling components and that was the business I sold to Woolworths for over $20 million.
Dick Smith
[On the secret to success] Surround yourself with capable people.
Dick Smith
Ask for lots of advice.
Dick Smith
Enthuse others to perform.
Dick Smith
Work really hard.
Dick Smith
In 1972 Dick Smith Electronics had two small shops in Sydney’s northern suburbs, one for repairing taxi radios and the other for selling electronic components.
Dick Smith
The road to success has many turns, and a few potholes.
Dick Smith
I was the front man, and Ike [Bain] brought administrative strength. I was good at generating ideas; Ike [Bain] made sure they were communicated across the company and adhered to.
Dick Smith
I came up with outrageous ways to promote the business, and Ike [Bain] was my sensible sounding board.
Dick Smith
I did not want to greatly expand Australian Geographic, but Ike [Bain] had different ideas…
Dick Smith
Although I’d forgotten many of the stories… I will always remember the lessons we learned from our mistakes.
Dick Smith
You can imagine … my pleasure when in 2001 we read that Woolworths had taken a controlling interest in Tandy Australia, for it was a just great to see an Aussie business taking over a foreign business for a change!
Dick Smith
[In October 1972 on the level of Ike Bain’s starting salary] $90! We can’t afford that! The most we can pay is $80.
Dick Smith
Why don’t you run the bloody place then?
Dick Smith
Good! I’m putting you up to $100 a week.
Dick Smith
The company’s doing well – our sales the week were $10,000…
Dick Smith
I need an advertising agent… but I’ve got no more than $120 a week to spend on advertising.
Dick Smith
Within the next year we will be facing very severe competition from Tandy. In fact I predict that by the end of 1976 Tandy will have at least 120 stores throughout Australia…
Dick Smith
It is up to us to do something now before we are ‘Yanked’ out of business!
Dick Smith
Because I own the company I could lose everything if we go broke, but you can just walk away and get another job…
Dick Smith
New Zealanders are paying higher prices than Australian enthusiasts – mostly because there is so little competition.
Dick Smith
[On asking Ike Bain to go into Australian Geographic and being told he didn’t know a think about publishing] But neither do I!
Dick Smith
Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable… first issue sold out in newspapers in days, now 21,000 subscribers. Reprinting 30,000 to make 110,000 in total.
Dick Smith
I’m not motivated to build another business. I want to put something back into the country and do things that give me satisfaction.
Dick Smith
I’m not running Australian Geographic for commercial reasons. I’m running it for the satisfaction I get out of it.
Dick Smith
I sold Dick Smith Electronics because I got fed up with just sitting in an office with 500 people working for me, making lots of money but never being able to do all the wonderful things I wanted to do, and I don’t want to get into the same position.
Dick Smith
I think one of the great things about Australia is our small population.
Dick Smith
Politicians are talking about growth all the time, everything’s got to get bigger.
Dick Smith
In the United States you can’t even drive on the freeways, you can’t breathe the air, you can’t even go camping without a permit because there are so many millions wanting to camp in the same area.
Dick Smith
[On opening the first Australian Geographic shop in March 1991] We hope that opening a store will inspire all Australians in these difficult times. We have a great land, we have a great country too if we are prepared to work hard.
Dick Smith
Good people are hard to find and if you last more than six months here, you’ve got a job for life!
Dick Smith
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