
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

It was us against the world, and we felt damned sorry for the world. That is, when we weren’t righteously pissed off at it. Each of us had been misunderstood, misjudged, dismissed. Shunned by bosses, spurned by luck, rejected by society, shortchanged by fate when looks and other natural graces were handed out. We’d each been forged by early failure
... See morePhil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Another thing I often heard from those same professors was the old maxim: “When goods don’t pass international borders, soldiers will.” Though I’ve been known to call business war without bullets, it’s actually a wonderful bulwark against war. Trade is the path of coexistence, cooperation. Peace feeds on prosperity. That’s why, haunted as I was by
... See morePhil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
And those who urge entrepreneurs to never give up? Charlatans. Sometimes you have to give up. Sometimes knowing when to give up, when to try something else, is genius. Giving up doesn’t mean stopping. Don’t ever stop.
Phil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
When sports are at their best, the spirit of the fan merges with the spirit of the athlete, and in that convergence, in that transference, is the oneness that the mystics talk about.
Phil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
It’s hard enough to invent and manufacture and market a product, but then the logistics, the mechanics, the hydraulics of getting it to the people who want it, when they want it—this is how companies die, how ulcers are born.
Phil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
I confessed that Blue Ribbon was tenuous. The whole thing might go bust any day, but I still couldn’t see myself doing anything else. My little shoe company was a living, breathing thing, I said, which I’d created from nothing. I’d breathed it into life, nurtured it through illness, brought it back several times from the dead, and now I wanted, nee
... See morePhil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
The single easiest way to find out how you feel about someone. Say goodbye.
Phil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Yes, I thought. Confidence. More than equity, more than liquidity, that’s what a man needs. I wished I had more. I wished I could borrow some. But confidence was cash. You had to have some to get some. And people were loath to give it to you.
Phil Knight • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Not faith as others define it. Faith as you define it. Faith as faith defines itself in your heart.