Larry Ellison Quotes

Powerful Larry Ellison for Daily Growth

About Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison, born on August 17, 1944, in New York City, is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, best known as the co-founder of Oracle Corporation – one of the world's leading software companies. Ellison was adopted at birth by a Jewish couple, Florence and Louis Ellison, and grew up in Chicago and Miami Beach. His biological father was an unmarried U.S. Army airman. The loss of his mother to cancer when he was nine years old deeply influenced him. After dropping out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ellison moved to Berkeley, California, where he worked as a programmer for Amdahl Corporation. In 1977, he co-founded Software Development Laboratories (SDL) with Robert Miner and Ed Oates – a company that would later become Oracle Corporation. Oracle Database, launched in 1979, was Ellison's groundbreaking work and a key factor in the rapid growth of his company. It became one of the most successful database management systems in the world. In 2004, Time magazine named Ellison one of the twenty-five most influential people on the Internet. Ellison is also known for his numerous business ventures outside Oracle, including the high-performance computer company, Sun Microsystems (later acquired by Oracle), and several technology-focused companies under the umbrella of his holding company, Oracle Corporation. In 2013, Ellison ranked as the third wealthiest person in the world by Forbes magazine, with an estimated net worth of $48 billion. However, he is also a prominent philanthropist, donating millions to universities, museums, and environmental causes, including the creation of the Lawrence J. Ellison Center for Innovation in Molecular Medicine at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Ellison's life story reflects his unwavering spirit, innovative mind, and significant impact on technology and business industries.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"You can either make excuses or make money. Never the two at the same time."

This quote emphasizes a choice between making excuses, which typically leads to no progress or gain, and actively working towards financial success, known as "making money." The message is that it's counterproductive to make excuses while aiming for wealth creation; instead, one should focus on taking actionable steps to achieve their financial goals. Essentially, it encourages individuals to be proactive in their pursuit of financial success rather than dwelling on reasons not to succeed.


"I've always been more interested in the long shot, the technological breakthrough that changes everything."

This quote by Larry Ellison signifies a profound fascination with innovative, game-changing technologies rather than incremental advancements. He is drawn to the "long shots," or ambitious projects that have the potential to significantly alter the status quo in any given field. This mindset reflects an entrepreneurial spirit willing to take risks and push boundaries for transformative impacts.


"It turns out that building a company is like building a product. All you have to do is make something people want, and then figure out how to build it."

This quote by Larry Ellison emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between creating a successful company and developing a product that appeals to consumers. He suggests that both processes involve identifying a demand or need in the market (making something people want), and then finding a way to deliver it effectively (building it). In essence, he is saying that entrepreneurship and product development share similar principles of understanding and catering to customer needs, while also being adaptable and innovative in their execution.


"The key to success is to focus on goals, and those that can be reached by a series of small systematic actions, steadily undertaken."

This quote emphasizes the importance of setting clear goals and achieving them through consistent, small, yet systematic actions. It suggests that to achieve success, one should break down their objectives into manageable tasks and focus on progressing gradually yet consistently towards those tasks. In other words, it's not about taking giant leaps but rather about making steady progress every day, which eventually leads to the accomplishment of larger goals.


"I believe in the American Dream because I've lived the American Dream."

This quote by Larry Ellison signifies that he has personally experienced the "American Dream," a concept rooted in the belief that anyone, regardless of their background or circumstances, can achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and the pursuit of opportunity. The American Dream is characterized by upward mobility, material wealth, and individual freedom, all of which Ellison suggests he has realized in his own life. His statement underscores both his personal achievement and his faith in the enduring potential for individuals to improve their circumstances within the United States.


I'm in two modes when I'm on Lanai: In engineering mode, I'm trying to find the right place for the reservoir and the desalination plant, and looking at designs for new hotel rooms. The rest of the time, I'm in decompression mode. I'm on Hulopoe Beach, going for a swim, or on my paddleboard surrounded by 100 spinner dolphins.

- Larry Ellison

Two, Surrounded, Rooms, Modes

We'll continue to expand our footprint... Oracle's Fusion cloud applications for HCM, CRM and ERP all have a new simplified user interface and an integrated social network that makes our enterprise applications as easy-to-use and familiar as Facebook, while enabling better collaboration and teamwork among your employees and your customers.

- Larry Ellison

Enterprise, Your, Interface, Integrated

When you write a program for Android, you use the Oracle Java tools for everything, and at the very end, you push a button and say, 'Convert this to Android format.'

- Larry Ellison

Very, Oracle, Use, Convert

What is Oracle? It's people. We rely on our HR department to build this organization, to help find those people, to help grow those people.

- Larry Ellison

People, Grow, Our, Oracle

What is Oracle? A bunch of people. And all of our products were just ideas in the heads of those people - ideas that people typed into a computer, tested, and that turned out to be the best idea for a database or for a programming language.

- Larry Ellison

Programming Language, Oracle

We have an ideal location for a couple of organic wineries on the island. But the reintroduction of commercial agriculture to Lanai is 100% dependent upon increasing the available water on the island. So we're going to use solar energy to convert seawater to fresh water.

- Larry Ellison

Commercial, Use, Couple, Convert

Oracle's got 100+ enterprise applications live in the #cloud; today, SAP's got nothin' but SuccessFactors until 2020.

- Larry Ellison

Got, Oracle, Enterprise, Sap

We think we're going to be especially strong in platform where we have our two platform brands: our database brand is the Oracle Database 12c, and our programming language brand is this thing called Java.

- Larry Ellison

Strong, Think, Brands, Programming Language

We've announced an Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance, a bunch of low-cost commodity servers running Linux, integrated in our case, with InfiniBand - connected with InfiniBand vs. the traditional Ethernet.

- Larry Ellison

Appliance, Commodity, Oracle

Oracle's latest database, version 12c, was specifically designed for the cloud. Oracle 12c makes all your Oracle applications multitenant applications without you having to make any changes whatsoever to your applications.

- Larry Ellison

Makes, Whatsoever, Having, Oracle

Taking care of your employees is extremely important and very, very visible.

- Larry Ellison

Important, Very, Extremely, Employees

A corporation's primary goal is to make money. Government's primary role is to take a big chunk of that money and give it to others.

- Larry Ellison

Government, Big, Give, Primary Goal

I'm going to start these art museums that are basically converted homes, and I have one for modern art, and I have one for 19th century European art, and one for French impressionism. I've got Japanese.

- Larry Ellison

Art, Going, 19th Century, Converted

I have had all of the disadvantages required for success.

- Larry Ellison

Success, Had, Required, Disadvantages

Maui reminded me of San Diego: beautiful, but crowded.

- Larry Ellison

Beautiful, San, Reminded, Diego

It's Microsoft versus mankind, with Microsoft having only a slight lead.

- Larry Ellison

Mankind, Having, Slight, Versus

Autonomy was shopped to us. We looked at the price and thought it was absurdly high.

- Larry Ellison

Thought, Autonomy, High, Absurdly

Bill Gates wants people to think he's Edison, when he's really Rockefeller. Referring to Gates as the smartest man in America isn't right... wealth isn't the same thing as intelligence.

- Larry Ellison

Wealth, Think, Edison, Rockefeller

Be careful about virtual relationships with artificially intelligent pieces of software.

- Larry Ellison

Relationships, Pieces, Artificially

Bill Gates is the pope of the personal computer industry. He decides who's going to build.

- Larry Ellison

Computers, Going, Pope, None

I own a home in Kyoto, Japan actually on the temple on grounds in Nanzenji that is going to become a Japanese art museum.

- Larry Ellison

Art, Japan, Kyoto, Temple

Our goal is very simply to become the desktop for e-businesses.

- Larry Ellison

Goal, Very, Our, Desktop

It's surreal to think that I own this beautiful island. It doesn't feel like anyone can own Lanai. What it feels like to me is this really cool 21st-century engineering project, where I get to work with the people of Lanai to create a prosperous and sustainable Eden in the Pacific.

- Larry Ellison

Own, Sustainable, Feels, Pacific

Lanai at one time grew 98% of the world's pineapples. But the world's pineapples are now grown in two places, Costa Rica and Panama, because no one wants to spend $45 for a pineapple from the United States.

- Larry Ellison

Two, United, Costa Rica, One Time

To model yourself after Steve Jobs is like, 'I'd like to paint like Picasso, what should I do? Should I use more red?'

- Larry Ellison

More, Like, Use, Picasso

People really criticize professional athletes going into the Olympics. People don't like change. A bunch of people don't like the Olympics now because we've added skateboarding... We're modernizing the sport.

- Larry Ellison

Like, Going, Added, Skateboarding

I started NetSuite. NetSuite was my idea. I called up Evan Goldberg and said, 'We're going to do ERP on the Internet, software-as-a-service.' Six months later Marc Benioff, finding out what NetSuite was doing, and kind of copied it.

- Larry Ellison

Doing, Idea, Copied, Marc

One of the great things about Lanai is that the weather is always fabulous. Always 82 degrees and sunny. The problem is that, like California now, Lanai needs more water.

- Larry Ellison

Always, Like, Needs, Fabulous

I am so disturbed by kids who spend all day playing videogames.

- Larry Ellison

I Am, Disturbed, Am, Videogames

I wish HP nothing but the best. I think HP is an icon. Those of us who had their careers in the Valley think of Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett as role models. We would love to be half as good as they were.

- Larry Ellison

Love, I Think, Dave, Role Models

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