Top 87 Quotes & Sayings by N. R. Narayana Murthy
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an Indian businessman N. R. Narayana Murthy.
Last updated on April 14, 2025.
I want Infosys to be a company which is globally respected and in where people belonging to different nationalities, races and religious beliefs will work with intense competition but utmost courtesy, dignity and co-operation in adding greater value to our stakeholders day after day.
Hinduism has an enormous capacity to absorb from outside influences and accept it in a peaceful and steady manner without perturbing the system.
Leadership is about doing the right thing, even if it going against a vast number of naysayers and mediocre people.
I think every country has to recognize its competitive advantage and liberate its strengths to be a partner in global trade, and that's the only way you can survive and succeed.
The lack of financial strength to avail healthcare is a major challenge.
When you run a part of the relay and pass on the baton, there is no sense of unfinished business in your mind. There is just the sense of having done your part to the best of your ability. That is it. The hope is to pass on the baton to somebody who will run faster and run a better marathon.
It's well proved economics that if a country which is rich and a country that is poor come together in global trade, sooner or later the standard of living of the poor country will go up towards that of the rich country.
To me, patriotism is about working ethically and wholeheartedly in our chosen field.
I think people like Bill Gates, who have given away enormous sums of money, are shining examples for all of us to follow.
When people get rich, they cut themselves off from the context that has earned them these riches - the context of the common men. They forget they are part of society.
Rahul Gandhi is very idealistic and a very decent human being. He has real concerns for the downtrodden.
Kumar Mangalam Birla is one of the most respected business persons.
My personal view is that organisations have a capacity to throw up extraordinary leaders to suit the occasion.
If my company spends money, it should be disclosed to the shareholders and how it was spent. With my personal money, I can do anything I want. But company money should be disclosed.
I am a man in a hurry.
I am what we call a 'karma yogi' in Sanskrit. A karma yogi is somebody who believes in data. I collect a lot of data.
Clearly, healthcare is a very important sector.
I've always enjoyed mathematics. It is the most precise and concise way of expressing any idea.
We are not the same India that the world saw in the 1970s and '80s. Hence, we have a responsibility to live up to the pedestal on which we have been put.
Effective use of technology is important to deliver healthcare. By leveraging technology, you can bring down lack of access and cost of healthcare.
Even if a company is taken private, at some stage people want to make it public.
Investment in training is a huge necessity for knowledge-based corporations.
We all, as engineers, doctors, have a big responsibility to bring smiles on the faces of suffering humanity.
The future of any corporation is as good as the value system of the leaders and followers in the organization.
Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.
Nobody is bothered about an institution more than its alumni.
Infosys is an absolute meritocracy. Even in a meritocracy, other things being equal, you have to give opportunity to the more experienced candidate.
Mahatma Gandhi was someone who demonstrated the tremendous power of leadership by example.
A great leader also has the ability to make people an inch taller in his presence.
The unique instrument to eradicate poverty and usher in prosperity is our youth.
Often times I have been asked about the attributes for success, and I have said that you need two attributes for succeeding as an entrepreneur: one, courage, second, luck.
You need to mesh the voices of people with expertise and meritocracy.
I have always looked at my competencies before accepting any responsibility.
I think, at the end of the day, you have to reduce friction to businesses, ideally to zero, so that more and more entrepreneurs can create more and more jobs with higher and higher disposable income.
My passion is to create a better society for our future citizens.
Indian IT corporations have made work in the U.S. much more efficient by enhancing their productivity and quality of work. We have helped to add sufficient value to the corporations in the U.S.
If the U.S. became the undisputed superpower that it is today, it was primarily because of its technology, whether it is in transportation, agriculture, high-tech industry, medicine, etc.
The principle of democracy is all about delegation of power by the vast majority of citizens through a few chosen representatives chosen on merit and competence.
I do not believe in any legacy. The past is dead and gone.
When you are in business for a long time, you go through good times and bad times. When you go through bad times, you learn to control costs, satisfy customers better, satisfy employees better and become more transparent. Therefore, you build character in the company.
The primary difference that I have found between the system of education in India and other countries, particularly the U.S., is that they focus on problem solving and relating theories to reality around them. These two things are lacking in the education system in India.
All developmental activities for the common man such as education, healthcare, shelter and food distribution should be handled by reputed private sector institutions. It should be a competitive market in order to prevent the formation of monopolies.
I have known Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla for a long time. He is a good man. He is a decent man.
If England became a world power, it was because of the industrial revolution.
Science is about unravelling nature.
The biggest impediment to growth is in our minds and not in the world outside, and only constant in the world is change.
I think India has several advantages in the knowledge sector, in the software sector.
Infosys demonstrated to the world that an Indian company could implement standards of quality, operations, finance that compare with the best. That is a legacy I am happy with.
I have no desire to enter politics. Because I am not suited for that.
Entrepreneurship is all about deferred gratification.
I was the first businessman to say, 'You should give tax benefit to only small companies. You should say your profits are exempt to a limit of Rs. 50 crore or so, but beyond that, you should pay taxes.' I have been arguing with successive finance ministers on this.
If longevity is the best index to measure a company, a basic requirement is the ability of the corporation to generate new and new leaders.
Every company has to identify what I call its strategic resources, and make sure that it grabs as much of its strategic resources as possible.
I think, my own personal view is there should be higher and higher levels of autonomy; government should not interfere in setting up colleges, in running colleges. The market, the society will decide which is a good university, which is not a good university, rather than government mandating.
A professorship appeals very much because I enjoy being with younger people.
Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong.
Today, the biggest bottleneck to the growth of a corporation is availability of good talent.
I think there are opportunities outside India as well as in India. In fact, some of the largest projects that most Indian software companies are doing are in India.
It's very important to learn quick lessons from your failures, very important to recognize symptoms of failure pretty early, and it is very, very important to not to be attached too much to the idea - you have to know when to give up an idea.
I have always focused on the bottom line.
Related Authors
Bill Gates Quotes
American
Businessman
Charlie Munger Quotes
American
Businessman
Dieter F. Uchtdorf Quotes
German
Businessman
Henry Ford Quotes
American
Businessman
Jim Rohn Quotes
American
Businessman
Joseph B. Wirthlin Quotes
American
Businessman
Mark Cuban Quotes
American
Businessman
Mark Zuckerberg Quotes
American
Businessman
Peter Drucker Quotes
American
Businessman
Richard Branson Quotes
British
Businessman
Russell Simmons Quotes
American
Businessman
Sam Altman Quotes
American
Businessman
Steve Jobs Quotes
American
Businessman
Tom Peters Quotes
American
Businessman
Walt Disney Quotes
American
Businessman
Warren Buffett Quotes
American
Businessman