Everybody calls themselves an Entrepreneur these days – how many are probably fooling themselves? These words have hung framed on a wall near my desk for 35 years.
The Entrepreneur’s Creed
I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man
It is my right to be uncommon—if I can.
I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, “This I have done.”
By Thomas Paine (February 9, 1737 [O.S. January 29, 1736 – June 8, 1809) was an English-American political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary.
