HR Quotes

Looking for some inspiration? We’ve put together this collection of HR quotes to give you some insight, motivation, and maybe a laugh to brighten up your day. Feel free to use any of these quotes in your next presentation, on a sign at your desk, or even cross-stitched on a pillow.

HR Quotes
Inspiring HR Quotes
“The best learners are also teachers.”
—Dave Ulrich, co-founder at The RBL Group, The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win
“The only way a company can grow, stay true to its soul, and remain consistently successful is to attract, hire, and keep great people.”
—Danny Meyer, CEO of Shake Shack, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
“If you want to know what people are thinking, there is no good replacement for simply asking them, best of all, face to face.”
—Patty McCord, former CTO at Netflix
“I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies.”
—Lawrence Bossidy, retired executive with General Electric and AlliedSignal
“The essence of leadership is not getting overwhelmed by circumstances.”
—Kim Scott, founder of Candor Inc., Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
“Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t have to.”
—Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group
Humorous HR Quotes top leaf image
Humorous HR Quotes
“The art of advocacy is to lead you to my conclusion on your terms.”
—Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at The Wharton School, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success
“Make new mistakes every day. Don’t waste time repeating the old ones.”
—Danny Meyer, CEO of Shake Shack, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business
“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?”
—Edgar Bergen, actor and comedian
“Done is better than perfect.”
—Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
“I will always choose a lazy person to do a hard job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
—Bill Gates, co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation
Humorous HR Quotes bottom leaf image
Thought-Provoking HR Quotes
“If you’re achieving all your goals, you’re not setting them aggressively enough.”
—Laszlo Bock, former SVP People Operations at Google, Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You
“HR professionals play three roles: storyteller, strategy interpreter, strategic facilitator.”
—Dave Ulrich, cofounder at The RBL Group, HR from the Outside In: Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources
“If you want to know what people are thinking, there is no good replacement for simply asking them, best of all, face to face.”
—Patty McCord, former CTO at Netflix
“In most cases, being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.”
—Tina Fey, actor and writer
“In the modern, networked, and symbiotic world we live in, people management is less about squeezing performance from the organized few and more about curating contribution from the limitless many.”
—Gyan Nagpal, talent strategist and leadership coach, The Future Ready Organization: How Dynamic Capability Management Is Reshaping the Modern Workplace
“People trust what they see over what they hear.”
—Travis Bradberry, President at TalentSmart
“The job of human resources is to make sure that resources come to work with their hearts and go back to their homes with happiness.”
—Amit Kalantri, author, Wealth of Words
“Human resources are like natural resources; they’re often buried deep. You have to go looking for them; they’re not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.”
—Ken Robinson, former director of the Arts in Schools Project
“Each new employee brings with them a potential to achieve and succeed. To lose the energy of a new hire through poor onboarding is an opportunity lost.”
—Sarah Wetzel, director of HR at engage:BDR
“Argue like you’re right, and listen like you’re wrong.”
—Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at The Wharton School, Originals: How Nonconformists Move the World
“Developing a culture-first mentality means focusing on employees’ total quality of life—including physical, mental, social, emotional, and financial health.”
—Meghan M. Biro, CEO at TalentCulture
“Feedback is meant to address the problem, not the person.”
—Travis Bradberry, President at TalentSmart, Emotional Intelligence 2.0
“Care personally; don’t put people in boxes and leave them there.”
—Kim Scott, founder of Candor Inc., Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
“In order to build a rewarding employee experience, you need to understand what matters most to your people.”
—Julie Bevacqua, CRO of Rise People
“The one behavior that talented people seldom tolerate for long is disrespect.”
—Beverly Kaye, founder of Career Systems International
“The ability to listen is as important as the ability to speak.”
—Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
“The only waste of human resources is letting them go unused.”
—Mark Victor Hansen, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series
“Leadership is about giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work.”
—Seth Godin, author and former dot com business executive
“You cannot mandate productivity; you must provide the tools to let people become their best.”
—Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Inc.
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
—Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group