Top 55 Ray Kroc Quotes on Success (MCDONALD’S)

In the realm of entrepreneurship and fast-food franchising, few names are as iconic or as transformative as Ray Kroc. Known for turning a small burger joint into the global phenomenon that is McDonald’s, Kroc’s wisdom extends beyond the world of business, touching on perseverance, innovation, and the art of seizing opportunities.

These quotes are not just business strategies; they are powerful lessons from a man who rose from being a milkshake machine salesman to the helm of a global empire. They offer insights on persistence, taking calculated risks, and the multifaceted elements that form Kroc’s philosophy of business success.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned businessman, or simply someone interested in the stories behind great successes, these quotes will challenge your perspectives, sharpen your acumen, and inspire you to think big.

Top 15 Most Famous Ray Kroc Quotes on Life and Success

We are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business

There are things money can’t buy and hard work can’t win. One of them is happiness. — There are things **money** can’t buy and **hard work** can’t win. One of them is **happiness**.

Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.

If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customers first, success will be yours.

The more I help others to succeed, the more I succeed.

Its easy to have principles when you’re rich. The important thing is to have principles when you’re poor.

“People have marveled at the fact that I didn’t start McDonald’s until I was fifty-two years old and then I became a success overnight. But I was just like a lot of show business personalities who work away quietly at their craft for years, and then, suddenly, they get the right break and make it big. I was an overnight success all right, but thirty years is a long, long night.”
Ray Kroc

Adversity can strengthen you if you have the will to grind it out.

Take calculated risks. Act boldly and thoughtfully. Be an agile company.

You're only as good as the people you hire. — You’re only as good as the people you hire.

Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting?

As long as you're green, you're growing. As soon as you're ripe, you start to rot. — As long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot.

While formal schooling is an important advantage, it is not a guarantee of success nor is its absence a fatal handicap. — While formal schooling is an important advantage, it is not a guarantee of **success** nor is its absence a fatal handicap.

Competition can try to steal my plans and copy my style. But they can’t read my mind; so I’ll leave them a mile and a half behind. — **Competition** can try to steal my plans and copy my style. But they can’t read my mind; so I’ll leave them a mile and a half behind.

If any of my competitors were drowning, I’d stick a hose in their mouth. — If any of my **competitors** were drowning, I’d stick a hose in their mouth.

40 Highly Inspirational Ray Kroc Quotes to Empower and Motivate You

“I never considered my dreams wasted energy; they were invariably linked to some form of action. When I dreamed about having a lemonade stand, for example, it wasn’t long before I set up a lemonade stand.”
Ray Kroc

The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.

To be an entrepreneur you have to have a large ego, enormous pride and an ability to inspire others to follow your lead. — To be an **entrepreneur** you have to have a large ego, enormous pride and an ability to **inspire** others to follow your lead.

I believe that if you hire a man to do a job, you ought to get out of the way and let him do it. If you doubt his ability, you shouldn’t have hired him in the first place.

In business for yourself, but not by yourself.

There’s almost nothing you can’t accomplish if you set your mind to it. — There’s almost nothing you can’t **accomplish** if you set your mind to it.

If you believe in it, and you believe in it hard, it is impossible to fail.

If you believe in something, you’ve got to be in it to the ends of your toes.

I don’t believe in saturation. We’re thinking and talking worldwide.

I have always believed that each man makes his own happiness and is responsible for his own problems. It is a simple philosophy. — I have always believed that each man makes his own **happiness** and is **responsible** for his own problems. It is a simple **philosophy**.

“It is impossible to grant someone happiness. The best you can do… is to give him the freedom to pursue happiness. Happiness is not a tangible thing, it’s a by-product – a by-product of achievement.”
Ray Kroc

No self-respecting pitcher throws the same way to every batter and no self-respecting salesman makes the same pitch to every client. — No **self-respecting** pitcher throws the same way to every batter and no self-respecting salesman makes the same pitch to every client.

The definition of salesmanship is the gentle art of letting the customer have it your way.

That’s the name of the game… pleasing the customer. If we ever lose sight of that fact, we’ve lost the ball game.

You’ll learn more about a road by traveling it than by consulting all the maps in the world.

Where there is no risk, there can be no pride in achievement and, consequently, no happiness. — Where there is no risk, there can be no pride in achievement and, consequently, no **happiness**.

The only way we can advance is by going forward, individually and collectively, in the spirit of the pioneer. We must take the risks involved in our free enterprise system.

To be successful, you must be daring, be first and be different.

“If you do it first class and you don’t compromise values, and you don’t compromise quality, and you don’t compromise service, and you don’t compromise cleanliness, then everybody else who is the competitor has got to play catch-up.”
Ray Kroc

When times are bad is when you want to build! Why wait for things to pick up so everything will cost more?

Our aim was to insure repeat business based on the system’s reputation rather than on the quality of a single store or operator.

We have an obligation to give something back to the community that gives so much to us.

We take the hamburger business more seriously than anyone else.

You must perfect every fundamental of your business if you expect it to perform well.

“My way of fighting the competition is the positive approach. Stress your own strengths, emphasize quality, service, cleanliness and value, and the competition will wear itself out trying to keep up.”
Ray Kroc

Look after the customers and the business will take care of itself.

McDonald’s is a people business, and that smile on that counter girl’s face when she takes your order is a vital part of our image.

All money means to me is a pride in accomplishment.

The first dollar is the most you will get if you don’t love what you are doing.

The two most important requirements for major success are - first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it. — The two most important requirements for major success are – first, being in the right place at the right **time**, and second, doing something about it.

It is no achievement to walk a tightrope laid flat on the floor.

If you’re not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.

You’re not going to get it free, and you have to take risks. I don’t mean to be a daredevil, that’s crazy. But you have to take risks, and in some cases you must go for broke.

Taking reasonable risks is part of the challenge. It’s the fun.

A man must take advantage of any opportunity that comes along…

I became a real entrepreneur, crazy enough to take the risk of losing everything. — I became a real **entrepreneur**, crazy enough to take the risk of losing everything.

If anyone stood to gain by our success and suffer if we failed, it was our suppliers.

If you have time to lean, you have time to clean. — If you have **time** to lean, you have time to clean.

“I was 52 years old. I had diabetes and incipient arthritis. I had lost my gall bladder and most of my thyroid gland in earlier campaigns, but I was convinced the best was ahead of me.”
Ray kroc

Ray Kroc Short Biography

Born on 5 October 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois, U.S, Raymond Albert Kroc was an American business tycoon who revolutionized the fast-food and Real Estate industry.

Dubbed the king of the franchise, Ray Kroc is best known for creating the international fast-food pioneer chain, McDonald’s – the most profitable restaurant franchise operation in the world.

The success of Kroc’s franchise empire inspired a new wave of fast-food franchises in the 1960s… Chains such as Subway, Wendy’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc. were expanding at an incredibly alarming rate locally (and slowly but surely, internationally).

Further reading:

The true origin story behind McDonald’s – Marketplace
How Ray Kroc Became an American Villain – The Atlantic
Ray Kroc and the McDonald’s Phenomenon – The Balance Small Business
43 Cut-Throat Facts About Ray Kroc And The History Of McDonald’s – Factinate

Here are the best Ray Kroc quotes so you can be persistent to grind it out and adapt to changes quickly to achieve astronomical success.

(MUST READ)

**Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s**

Also read:

Top 15 Most Famous Ray Kroc Quotes on Life and Success

40 Highly Inspirational Ray Kroc Quotes to Empower and Motivate You

Ray Kroc Short Biography

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