"The key to success is to get out into the store and listen to what the associates have to say. It's terribly important for everyone to get involved. Our best ideas come from clerks and stock boys."

"Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom."

"Walton also had an allergy for bureaucracy. He wanted to reduce the number of layers in the company, from chairman to the store associates."

"Our very unusual willingness to share most of the numbers of our business with all the associates … It's the only way they can possibly do their jobs to the best of their abilities—to know what's goin…"

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."