RICHARD DEVOS

I am always amazed at how many guys in the NBA have never met an owner much less ever been to an owner's house. We bought the team so that we would be able to be a positive force, so that they in turn would be a positive force to young people everywhere.

If I had some idea of a finish line, don't you think I would have crossed it years ago?

I deal with a lot of wonderful gay people. I hire a lot of them. I use a lot of them. I respect them. They're terrific. I am good friends with them. But you live your life the way you want to live, and I'll live mine, and I won't stick my nose in yours.

If the auto plants in Detroit would just sit around the table and say, 'What do we gotta do to make this thing work?' Instead of, 'I want this and I want that.' They might make it.

If you have a dream, give it a chance to happen.

The Lord has a way of working in our lives, and sometimes he brings us down low to bring new values back to our life.

Money cannot buy peace of mind. It cannot heal ruptured relationships, or build meaning into a life that has none.

I have been hung in effigy by the gay community for a long time, from when I was on President Reagan's first AIDS commission.

You've got to take responsibility for your actions.

When you've lived as long I've lived, you see things from a bigger lens, and you try to share that with the young guys coming up, including being patient.

Faith is my foundation because you work on a faith basis that you believe God has his hand on you.

It is fun to be Rich DeVos. It's great fun.

As business moves forward, you realize that God has his hand on the whole business and that he brought people to you who are like-minded. It starts with faith.

Life... It tends to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our expectations.

You have to move in life, but the loyalty you develop in a community is always remembered. But if you leave, you don't pick it up in the next town. It's not an add-on, you know, because you lose what you had.

Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push. A smile. A world of optimism and hope. A 'you can do it' when things are tough.

The easiest thing to find on God's green earth is someone to tell you all the things you cannot do.

It is impossible to win the race unless you venture to run, impossible to win the victory unless you dare to battle.

I've by and large been a positive person ever since I can remember.

Delivering the 'Grand Rapids Press' taught me responsibility, accountability, and all the principles of the rewards of hard work.

Jay and I used to talk about this: we never had a goal of making a lot of money. We had a goal of having a business of our own. And there were many times we could have sold out and had a lot of money. Billions. We just put it in our pocket and go home, OK? But that was never our goal.

A positive atmosphere nurtures a positive attitude, which is required to take positive action.

People who achieve the highest levels of success - whether in business or in raising families or simply in discovering fulfillment and satisfaction and purpose in life - are those who place their focus on other people rather than themselves.

I learned that you appreciate what you earn much more than what is given you. I also learned that decisions have consequences.

Every society needs people who can encourage and stimulate and cheer. They are the ones who make the world run. You can be one of them!