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S Truett Cathy Quotes

S. Truett Cathy founded the fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A in 1946. He was an American businessman, investor, author, and philanthropist. A self-made man, he inspired greatly entrepreneurs in the US and across the world for his down-to-heart but successful attitude to business and leadership.

S Truett Cathy Quotes that Will Inspire You

“We’re not just in the chicken business, we’re in the people business.”
S Truett Cathy

“Sometimes success is disguised in hard work.”
S Truett Cathy

“It’s easier to succeed than to fail.”
S Truett Cathy

“Businesses are not dishonest or greedy, people are.”
S Truett Cathy

“Take advantage of unexpected opportunities.”
S Truett Cathy

“I live in a do-it-yourself world.”
S Truett Cathy

“I enjoy few things more than making people – especially children – smile.”
S Truett Cathy

“If you wish to enrich days, plant flowers; If you wish to enrich years, plant trees; If you wish to enrich Eternity, plant ideals in the lives of others.”
S Truett Cathy

“Our EDL (Everyday Living course at highschool) teacher taught us about common courtesies as well as common sense… He also introduced us to a book by Napoleon Hill that had just been published, ‘Think and Grow Rich’. In it Mr Hill wrote, ‘Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
S Truett Cathy

“[On reading Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’ book as a high school student] As I read Mr. Hill’s book, I realized I could do anything if I wanted it badly enough. His words motivated me and showed me that I live in a do-it-yourself world.”
S Truett Cathy

“We live in a changing world, but we need to be reminded that the important things have not changed…”
S Truett Cathy

“If they can’t take care of the personal life, how can you expect them to take care of business?”
S Truett Cathy

“Put two Cows on a billboard with a bucket of paint and a brush, and they’ll create some unexpected opportunities… They remind people in their unique style to ‘Eat Mor Chikin!’ The Cows still haven’t learned to spell, and their grammar leaves a lot to be desired, but the opportunities are real. Five years after they painted their first billboard, Chick-fil-A had doubled our sales volume, achieving annual sales of more than $1 billion.”
S Truett Cathy

“We have an impact on our children by what we say, but particularly by what we do. They forget many of the things we say, but they observe everything we do. We can’t expect to keep beer in the refrigerator and expect our fifteen-year-old not to drink beer.”
S Truett Cathy

“The Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich itself was born in the wake of an unexpected opportunity. When one of my first two restaurants burned to the ground, I found myself with time on my hands and the availability to develop a new recipe…”
S Truett Cathy

“To take advantage of unexpected opportunities, we must leave ourselves available.”
S Truett Cathy

“Many successful people I know set magnificent goals for themselves, then let nothing stand in the way of their achievement. I don’t engage in that kind of long-range planning. Instead, I leave myself and my company available to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.”
S Truett Cathy

“Many of the unexpected opportunities we encounter are small but significant.”
S Truett Cathy

“The unexpected opportunity I enjoy most is the opportunity to turn a frown into a smile.”
S Truett Cathy

“My mother… began taking boarders in our rented home in the West End section of Atlanta. For a dollar a day a boarder got a bed – we put two or three beds in each bedroom – and two meals a day. We had only one bathroom, so the boarders had to schedule around each other. Our family, of course, got the bathroom last, with the children bringing up the rear. My two brothers, four sisters, and I took our baths on Saturday…”
S Truett Cathy

“Rural life left many scars. Six years before I was born, a fire destroyed the family home and all its contents… With no insurance, the expense laid a heavy financial burden on the family.”
S Truett Cathy

“My dad got a job with the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Nashville, selling policies and collecting premiums. He earned so little money, however, my mother had to step in and become the family breadwinner.”
S Truett Cathy

“[As a boy] In winter I continued to generate my own income by selling magazine subscriptions door to door. I sold ‘Ladies’ Home Journal’ for fifteen cents a copy and made four cents profit, or the Saturday Evening Post for a nickel, earning a cent-and-a-half profit. You can guess which one I tried to sell first…”
S Truett Cathy

“At the age of fifty-six, Mother was tired. Running a boarding house for over a decade had worn her out…”
S Truett Cathy

“A reporter once asked me how I would like to be remembered. I answered, ‘I think I’d like to be remembered as one who kept my priorities in the right order. We live in a changing world, but we need to be reminded that the important things have not changed, and the important things will not change if we keep our priorities in proper order.”
S Truett Cathy

“My business grew on my understanding that customers are always looking for somebody who is dependable and polite and will take care of them.”
S Truett Cathy

“[As a child] My success with the paper route convinced me that I would one day open a business of my own, most likely a service station, grocery store, or restaurant.”
S Truett Cathy

“I never thought… my balding head would keep me out of World War II, but it did. Instead of being sent to the front lines, I fought the war with a typewriter.”
S Truett Cathy

“[On building their first restaurant] We soon ran into another roadblock – a shortage of building materials. The war effort had consumed virtually every scrap of steel and copper in America, and lumber was almost as scare… so I had to beat the bushes for material.”
S Truett Cathy

“When World War II ended, my brother Ben and I decided we wanted to go into the restaurant business. Ben had all of the restaurant experience between us – a short time working at The Varsity near the Georgia Tech campus…”
S Truett Cathy

“[On Sir John Templeton] He had never known anything who had tithed for ten years who was not rewarded.”
S Truett Cathy

“Sir John Templeton, the financial investment expert and creator of the Templeton Funds, tells audiences the safest recommendation and the one that pays the greatest dividend is tithing…”
S Truett Cathy

“[On establishing a Chick-fil-A restaurant] After we make the necessary investment – buying the real estate and building the restaurant – we turn over the responsibility of running a $2 million-plus business (for a free-standing location) to these independent franchisees – many who have not yet turned thirty years old.”
S Truett Cathy

“My riches are my family and my foster children. I try to store any material wealth in my hand, not my heart, so that I always feel free to give it away when the opportunity rises.”
S Truett Cathy

“The ‘Eat Mor Chikin’ Cows now have become more than characters in an advertisement. They’re real. Wherever I go I carry a bunch of plush Cow toys. They always make people happy, whether they’re children or adults – even workers in boots and soiled shirts. Everybody loves them. When I give one away I always ask the person to tell me what the Cows say, and hold onto it until they say, ‘Eat Mor Chikin!’”
S Truett Cathy

“One of the greatest rewards for me as a foster grandparent is for children to grow up in a WinShape Home and dedicate their lives to becoming foster parents themselves…”
S Truett Cathy

“We’re not limited to traditional media for advertising. Some of the strongest messages can be delivered for free. I carry a big Chick-fil-A shopping bag whenever I travel…”
S Truett Cathy

“One-on-one brand building, which can be the most effective.”
S Truett Cathy

“For the cost of 100 Eat Mor Chikin Cows I get more positive response than any newspaper advertisement.”
S Truett Cathy

“The more successful I made Chick-fil-A, the more successful I make myself.”
S Truett Cathy

“The one thing I take more joy in than anything else in the world is seeing young people develop.”
S Truett Cathy

“Wealth has the power to build up and to destroy.”
S Truett Cathy

“[On his first bicycle he ever bought] I have more pleasant memories of that bike than any automobile I ever bought, because I worked for it and I fixed it up.”
S Truett Cathy

“Like wealth, poverty also has the power to build us up and make us appreciate what we have, or it can break our spirits.”
S Truett Cathy

“I have experienced poverty and plenty, and I’ve decided I much prefer living with plenty.”
S Truett Cathy

“I have enjoyed collecting classic or unusual cars when the price is right.”
S Truett Cathy

“When I had the opportunity to buy the Batmobile that appeared in the movie ‘Batman Returns’, I decided to display it at the Chick-fil-A home office. I wish I could show instead the first bicycle I ever bought… It didn’t have fenders, and it needed work…”
S Truett Cathy

“By ‘staying small,’ we also remain sensitive to the needs of others around us.”
S Truett Cathy

“Our sweetest memories are often simpler times…”
S Truett Cathy

“It’s easy to lose sight of the things that really matter when we have all the comforts we desire.”
S Truett Cathy

“We should enjoy simple pleasures.”
S Truett Cathy

“I didn’t want to grow up being like my dad. He was the last one you would go to for advice or counselling. I never heard him say, ‘Thank you.’ I never heard him say that he loved me, and he never kissed me. He argued with my mom all the time…”
S Truett Cathy

“We’re also in the people business.”
S Truett Cathy

“[In 1997] The restaurant business provides my livelihood, and its success enables me to fulfil the obligations of Vocational Service as well as Community Service.”
S Truett Cathy

“The Ford Motor Company broke ground for an assembly plant in Hapeville… at about the time we located a desirable piece of property nearby. Although not a corner lot, was next to the corner on a site that gave us a good traffic flow. Industry was moving into that area. I knew we had a chance to work up a good breakfast trade with people going to work, and we could develop a good lunch trade as well.”
S Truett Cathy

“When we share our time with children, the little things often become lifetime memories for them.”
S Truett Cathy

“It’s better to build boys than mend men.”
S Truett Cathy

“Changing a child changes you.”
S Truett Cathy

“Children all around us are growing up without strong positive guidance from their parents, who are busy, distracted, absent, or who choose to be buddies instead of parents to their children.”
S Truett Cathy

“Trust often grows out of generosity – not giving children everything they want but giving them what they need.”
S Truett Cathy

“What we say and do really does count.”
S Truett Cathy

“No amount of business school training or working experience can teach what is ultimately a matter of personal character. Businesses are not dishonest or greedy, people are. Thus, a business, successful or not, is merely a reflection of the character of its leadership.”
S Truett Cathy

“We simply practice the Golden Rule.”
S Truett Cathy

“You might expect that at the Ritz Carlton, but you don’t expect it at fast food.”
S Truett Cathy

“There’s nothing wrong with being kind to your customers.”
S Truett Cathy

“As long as you are being kind to your customers why not be kind to each other.”
S Truett Cathy

“Whatever you do… put your heart and soul into it…”
S Truett Cathy

“I started selling colas just to help my folks make ends meet…”
S Truett Cathy

“[On his new cafeteria concept beside the road for his second store being ahead of it’s time] It wasn’t an hour after I opened up that I suddenly realized that I had made a mistake.”
S Truett Cathy

“The thing you receive in the restaurant business is the joy of pleasing people. Receiving compliments on your food and compliments on your service and compliments on your employees.”
S Truett Cathy

“I thought I was a pretty good salesman.”
S Truett Cathy

“I’m a successful business man – but also I like being known that I’ve been a good father.”
S Truett Cathy

“I knew if I ever had anything, I’d have to work for it.”
S Truett Cathy

“When you have to struggle for a place to live… makes you very grateful for what you might have.”
S Truett Cathy

“At an early age I learned show to shuck corn and shell peas and wash dirty dishes, set the table and go shopping with my mom…”
S Truett Cathy

“[On selling Coke as a youngster] I made 40 cents if I didn’t brake any bottles and if I didn’t have to buy the ice.”
S Truett Cathy

“[From the age of 12 to when he was 19] I got a paper route with the Atlanta Journal which I carried papers for seven straight years.”
S Truett Cathy

“It’s a good thing… the future. Cause you can handle one problem at a time.”
S Truett Cathy

“I realized the importance of doing a job and doing it right. Pleasing your customers and enjoying what you’re doing.”
S Truett Cathy

“I worked hard for a C, but I had to work… I find that most successful people are C students.”
S Truett Cathy

“I say the world is ruled by C students cause I was in that category, I didn’t get to go to college, because I was drafted when I finished, soon after I finished high school.”
S Truett Cathy

“Chick-fil-A I never planned on.”
S Truett Cathy

“[On his children working in their first restaurant] Our first place was called the Dwarf Grill, my wife would dress them up like little dwarfs and they would come and sing for the customers and I could be working away and when they got old enough or high enough to work behind the counter, they did that.”
S Truett Cathy

“[On his brother passing away in a plane accident] It was two brothers and two friends with them and they were in a little plane out at the airport, and were heading to an air show up in Chattanooga. The motor conked out and fell flat… It’s hard to accept those kinds of things… You don’t understand those things, but you have to accept them.”
S Truett Cathy

“The joy you get in being in the restaurant business is not ringing the cash registers, but the compliments that you receive on your employees and on your food.”
S Truett Cathy

“Regardless of how you cook it, if you de-bone a chicken, you cut the cooking time down to half.”
S Truett Cathy

“Some of them come to work because they need to work, others just work because they just like to work.”
S Truett Cathy

“Building a business on a very simple idea – boneless, skinless breast of chicken served on a hot toasted buttered bun.”
S Truett Cathy

“It does have about 20 ingredients in it in the season coat as well as on the chicken itself.”
S Truett Cathy

“I think any problem you have in business, the worst problem you have is financial problems.”
S Truett Cathy

“I knew I had to pay my bills and I knew I had to pay my employees.”
S Truett Cathy

“Business people are anxious to give their children what they didn’t have when they were growing up, but they are failing to give them the important things.”
S Truett Cathy