Larry Ellison Quotes
302 Larry Ellison Quotes
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[In September 2009] We want to be T.J. Watson Jr.'s IBM. That was when IBM was the dominant software company. And they translated that position into being a great systems company. Back then, IBM wasn't just a company - it was the ‘environment’ in which everything else operated.
Larry Ellison
I enjoy competition. I think life is a series of acts of discovery. We're all interested in discovering our own limits.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] I used to buy custom, but now I’m a big fan of Brioni.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] Oracle develops software to manage information. We’re a database software company.
Larry Ellison
The reason I’ve been working more is it’s an extraordinary opportunity. Our industry is going through this tectonic change.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] Eventually the world is going to move to the internet.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] The whole idea of putting a floppy disk into a PC and loading software is ridiculous.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998 versus a network pc.] The whole idea of backing up your data on your PC is ridiculous.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] It’s all wrong. Lot’s of little computers is a terrible idea. You can’t see the big picture because it’s all been sliced and diced and stored in so many locations… It’s impossible to know what’s going on.
Larry Ellison
There’s only one program that’s important on your PC. And that’s an internet browser. Once you have access to the internet you have access to almost everything computing has to offer.
Larry Ellison
The primary reason people buy PC’s these days is to access the internet… The vision is absolutely coming true.
Larry Ellison
I’m going to force all our sales rep’s to demonstrate the product over the internet.
Larry Ellison
Some people thought I’d lost my mind.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998 on Oracle.] We’re nothing but 100% internet. If we’re wrong. We’re toast.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] Bill [Gates] and I used to be friends a long time ago. That’s before he turned mean and ran Netscape out of business… So I don’t talk to Bill anymore.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] I didn’t take off three months… I’ve never been gone for more than a month at Oracle in my life.
Larry Ellison
[On being divorced three times so far in 1998.] I’ve been in fairly serious relationships most of my life. It’s true.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] I like putting myself in demanding, challenging situations. But not to the point where my life is really at risk.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998 on his Sydney to Hobart yacht race.] We had just sailed into the eye of a hurricane.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] If our boat had sunk, we all would have died.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] I work very hard at being a good CEO for Oracle. But at the same time I can’t stop living my life.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] Life is a miracle and I don’t want to spend it just doing Oracle.
Larry Ellison
[In 1998] The most exciting race is… The race towards internet computing.
Larry Ellison
[On being the richest man briefly for one month.] That was one hell of a month.
Larry Ellison
Microsoft's in first place. We're in second place. We're trying to catch them. They're not making it easy.
Larry Ellison
[On Microsoft in December 2007] They have a monopoly. We don't. Darn it.
Larry Ellison
When I was a kid, my sister walked into my room and said, 'Larry, which is more important to you – to be admired or be loved?' And I said, 'Well, for me personally? To be admired.' She looks at me, smiles, 'Wrong,' and walks out. It took me a little while to realize that all of us want to be loved. Being loved is more important than being admired. It's something we have a hard time accepting
Larry Ellison
[On learning he was adopted at age 12. Adopted by his Aunt and Uncle.] It was shocking that I just put it away and thought about it for years, without really confronting all and realizing all of the implications.
Larry Ellison
[His adopted father telling him] He told me ‘I’d never amount to anything.’… I had all the disadvantages required for success.
Larry Ellison
[On his adopted father.] I think, because I was constantly questioning authority, that he felt that would continuously get me in trouble as it had in school - as it had in the Boy Scouts, as it had on athletic teams.
Larry Ellison
[On IBM having an idea that described how software could analyze data. But IBM management didn’t act on the idea. Forming the embryo to start Oracle.] I said, 'Oh my God, this is exactly what we need to do. We can beat IBM to market with IBM's own technology,' because IBM didn't believe in their own idea.
Larry Ellison
[On building a house on 33 acres in California called ‘Sanbashi’. Which started back in 1997 and has cover over $100 million in 2007.] Not a single nail on the property. It’s all assembled in the traditional Japanese way.
Larry Ellison
[On his house ‘Sanbashi’.] The garden is really a piece of sculpture. And the rocks are supposed to look like they were placed here by the hand of God over the last million years
Larry Ellison
It's not sufficient I succeed. Everyone else must fail. That quote I actually got when I was working in Japan. And a Japanese executive was describing a competition in Japan and how they take competition in Japan and the pursuit of market share. And this guy said, 'Anything less than a 100, you know, a 100 percent market share was not enough. Every time we lose a deal, we feel that rice is being taken out of the mouths of our children.’
Larry Ellison
I suppose you can say to anyone who wants to win so badly, who am I winning for? Am I winning for Oracle shareholders or is this simply a matter of personal vanity? I admit to it, mea culpa. An awful lot of it is personal vanity. I think we are curious about ourselves.
Larry Ellison
We're curious about our own limits and we try to discover our own limits. And a lot of what keeps me going and keeps my drive is I'm curious as to how far I can go, how far Oracle can go. They're inextricably linked.
Larry Ellison
[On the story of him flying a plane under the Golden Gate Bridge.] That would be against aviation rules, so of course not.
Larry Ellison
I was born in New York City. My mother was 19, she wasn’t married and was unable to care for me and tried until I was 9 months old and then I was adopted by my maternal aunt and uncle in Chicago. And I moved to Chicago.
Larry Ellison
I believed until I was 12 years old that I was not adopted. I had no idea that I was adopted.
Larry Ellison
I had some teachers when I was very young who I thought were trying to tell me things that I thought weren’t true… They weren’t interested in a discourse with a child… They said ‘This is true and you are smart if you can repeat back to me exactly what I said to you.’ I had a real problem with that as well.
Larry Ellison
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