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Jack Ma Quotes

20 quotes from Jack Ma — Co-founder of Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company..

Read the full Jack Ma playbook →

“I told my team: We may not have money, technology, or a strong network, but we have a dream. We believe in the future. And we believe that if we work hard and never give up, we will succeed.”

— World Economic Forum, Davos, 2018Perseverance

“Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.”

Perseverance

“If you don't give up, you still have a chance.”

Perseverance

“Forget about your competitors, focus on your customers.”

Business

“If you fail, that's not a problem. Failing is normal.”

Failure

“A leader should never complain.”

Leadership

“Don't worry about being successful, but work toward being useful.”

Service

“I call myself a blind man riding a blind tiger.”

Humility

“Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big.”

Mentorship

“Your attitude is more important than your skills.”

Mindset

“We are never in lack of money. We lack people with dreams.”

Vision

“When we have money, we start making mistakes.”

Business

“We had 18 people in my apartment and now we have four big campuses. Fifteen years ago, we were big but 15 years later, we are still a baby.”

— Jack Ma, Davos 2015

“Jack is always playing three-dimensional chess, but it can end up irritating people.”

— Duncan Clark, author of Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

“Innovation doesn't fear regulation, but it does fear regulation by yesterday's methods.”

— Jack Ma, Bund Financial Summit, October 24, 2020

“For most people, seeing is believing. People like us, we believe, and then we will see. When we start our business, we don't have money, we don't have resources, we don't have anything. The only thing we have is that we believe in the future, we have dreams.”

— Jack Ma, HKU Honorary Degree Speech, 2018

“I got my dream from America. In the evenings in Silicon Valley, the roads were full of cars, and all the buildings had lights on. That's the vision of what I wanted to create at home in China.”

— Jack Ma, Davos interview with Charlie Rose, 2015

“We are starting to operate on the diseases of a big company. This path of reform and innovation has never been accompanied by applause.”

— Jack Ma, internal Alibaba forum, April 2024

“When I started Alipay, everyone said: 'Jack, this is the most stupid model we've ever seen, nobody will use it.' I said I don't care if this model is scientific, whether it's fancy-looking, or not. As long as it works, it helps to build up the trust.”

— Jack Ma, CBS 60 Minutes, 2014

“No company can rely solely on its founders. Of all people, I should know that. Because of physical limits on one's ability and energy, no one can shoulder the responsibilities of chairman and CEO forever.”

— Jack Ma, retirement letter to Alibaba employees, September 2018

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Jack Ma

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Jack Ma

Co-founder of Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company.