Business Quote by Calvin Coolidge
“No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others; or failing therein, it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Address to the Nation, Calvin Coolidge, 1925
Enterprises must serve a broader purpose beyond profit; otherwise they fail to survive.
In simple terms: Businesses need a higher purpose to thrive.
Key Takeaway
Align your work with a greater good.
Themes
purpose
service
sustainability
Mood
motivational
thoughtful
Type
leadership
business
When to use this quote
- startup planning
- corporate strategy
- nonprofit management
Key Concepts
economics
ethics
social responsibility
Questions to Reflect On
- What greater need does your organization fulfill?
- How can profit and purpose coexist?
A Different Perspective
Profit alone may not sustain a venture without genuine impact.
![“[S]ometimes, when you are a food person, the possible irrelevance of what you are doing doesn’t cross your mind until it’s too late. (Once, for example, when I was just starting out in the food business, I was hired by the caper people to develop a lot of recipes using capers, and it was weeks of…” quote by Nora Ephron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d79/nora-ephron-1217_business_s-ometimes-when-you-are-a-food-person-th_980.jpg)
![“If the State does not acquire supremacy over [vast private] enterprises, it becomes their puppet, and they become the real State.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bad/bertrand-russell-69_acquire_if-the-state-does-not-acquire-supremacy_1379.jpg)