Top 100 Tim Cook Quotes On Technology, Teamwork, And Leadership

Updated: April 28th, 2022

Timothy Donald Cook or Tim Cook is a business executive and computer engineer from America who has been the CEO of Apple Inc. since 2011.

Tim joined apple in 1998 as a senior vice president and rose to the position of CEO after Steve Jobs resigned from the post in 2011. Cook was among the first few people to recognize the importance of services in technology and business models in general, predicting that a service is not something that you sell, but something that you do.

We've put together an incredible collection of the best Tim Cook quotes to read.

Here they are:

Top 100 Tim Cook Quotes On Technology, Teamwork, And Leadership

Inspiring Tim Cook Quotes On Technology

We generally acquire a company every three to four weeks on average. And so it's a rare month that there's not a company being bought. We typically buy for technology and really great people. - Tim Cook


It gives me a lot of energy to talk to developers or meet students in classrooms who are using our technology to help learn faster and better. Watching them pursue their passion. - Tim Cook


Everybody in technology seems to want big numbers. Steve never got carried away with that. He focused on making the best. - Tim Cook


While infusing technology with humanity, we are trying to make sure it's used for good and also trying to foresee some of the ways it can be used in a bad way and eliminate those. - Tim Cook


All of us technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news. We must try to squeeze this without stepping on freedom of speech and of the press, but we must also help the reader. - Tim Cook


That has always been the objective of Apple: to do things that really enrich people's lives. That you look back on and you wonder, 'How did I live without this? - Tim Cook


It's not what Apple and Beats are doing today. It's what we believe pairing the two together can produce for the future. - Tim Cook


We could build just about anything that you could dream of. But that's not the question. The thing that Beats provides us is a head start. They provide us with incredible people that don't grow on trees. - Tim Cook


What Beats brings to Apple are guys with very rare skills. People like this aren't born every day. They're very rare. They really get music deeply. Music's always been at the heart of Apple. It's deep in our DNA. We've sold Macs to musicians since the beginning of Macs. - Tim Cook


I have to feel myself doing what's right. If I'm the arbiter of that instead of letting the guy on TV be that or someone who doesn't know me at all, then I think that's a much better way to live. - Tim Cook


France has always had a special place for Apple. This is the best place to discover and chat with all musicians, graphic designers, designers, or photographers who use our products. There is such creative energy. - Tim Cook


I see the Mac being a key part of Apple for the long term, and I see growth in the Mac for the long term. - Tim Cook


I think that some people will never buy a computer because I think now we're at the point where the iPad does what some people want to do with their PCs. - Tim Cook


I personally think 3D Touch is a game-changer. I find that my efficiency is way up with the 3D touch because I can go through so many emails so quickly. - Tim Cook


We are constantly auditing our supply chain. Making sure that safety standards are - are, you know, are the highest. We're making sure that working conditions are the highest. - Tim Cook


There have been people that suggest that we should have a back door. But the reality is if you put a back door in, that back door's for everybody - for good guys and bad guys. - Tim Cook


I don't subscribe to the view some people have in the industry that you should purposefully design products that do not last that long. I don't think it is good for anyone. - Tim Cook


We don't collect a lot of your data and understand every detail about your life. That's just not the business that we are in. - Tim Cook


Our values are that we do think that people have a right to privacy. And that our customers are not our products. - Tim Cook


We shouldn't all be fixated just on what's not available. We should take a step back and look at the total that's available because there's a mountain of information about us. - Tim Cook


We think the government should be pushing for more encryption. That it's a great thing. You know, it's like the sun and the air and the water. - Tim Cook


Market in India is big enough for several brands. For us, it's about innovation, making the best product, and making the ecosystem better and better. If we do that well, then more people will switch from Android to iOS. - Tim Cook


I am very bullish on India because of its people, its culture, and the leadership. I love the culture and warmth of people. - Tim Cook


We try to continually push ourselves to do more and more, not just on the hardware side but also in terms of developers' tools so they can take advantage of the hardware that's there, in the best way. - Tim Cook


Apple doesn't do hobbies as a general rule. - Tim Cook


I don't really think anything Microsoft does puts pressure on Apple. - Tim Cook


You can only do so many things great, and you should cast aside everything else. - Tim Cook


Price is rarely the most important thing. A cheap product might sell some units. Somebody gets it home and they feel great when they pay the money, but then they get it home and use it and the joy is gone. - Tim Cook


I've always hated litigation, and I continue to hate it. - Tim Cook


You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user. - Tim Cook

Powerful Tim Cook Quotes On Teamwork

While our team managed the manufacturing ramp better than ever before, we could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible. - Tim Cook


We collectively, to get things done, work together as a team. Because the work really happens horizontally in our company, not vertically. Products are horizontal. It takes hardware plus software plus services to make a killer product. - Tim Cook


Think about what you're passionate about. I did not learn something early enough: if I could go back, I'd tell the younger me that there's a big difference between loving to work and loving the work. - Tim Cook


Work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it's just a job, and life is too short for that. - Tim Cook


When we launch a product, we're already working on the next one. And possibly even the next, next one. - Tim Cook


It's hard to edit. It's hard to stay focused. And yet, we know we'll only do our best work if we stay focused. And so, you know, the hardest decisions we made are all the things not to work on, frankly. - Tim Cook


People should have values, so by extension, a company should. And one of the things you do is give back. So how do you give back? We give back through our work in the environment, by running the company on renewable energy. We give back in job creation. - Tim Cook


You know, this iPhone, as a matter of fact, the engine in here is made in America. And not only are the engines here made in America but engines are made in America and are exported. The glass on this phone is made in Kentucky. And so we've been working for years on doing more and more in the United States. - Tim Cook


My view on working with any government in the world is that there are things that you will agree upon and things that you will not. And you don't want to let the things you don't mean that you don't have any interface. - Tim Cook


For the most important decisions in your life, trust your intuition, and then work with everything you have, to prove it right. - Tim Cook


Those who try to achieve success without hard work ultimately deceive themselves or worse-deceive others. - Tim Cook


I am driven by great work and seeing people do incredible things and having a part in that. - Tim Cook


A great product isn’t just a collection of features. It’s how it all works together. - Tim Cook


Graduates, your values matter. They are your north star. And work takes on new meaning when you feel you’re pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it’s just a job. And life is too short for that. - Tim Cook


It’s the privilege of a lifetime for me to work with the most innovative people on Earth. Only Apple can deliver this kind of innovation in such a beautiful, integrated, and easy-to-use way. It’s what we love to do, it’s what we stand for. - Tim Cook


I don't think Apple has to own content business. - Tim Cook


Most business models have focused on self-interest instead of user experience. Those are the kinds of problems we solve to solve. - Tim Cook


My business is not reading your messages. I don’t have a business doing that. And it’s against my values to do that. I don’t want to read your private stuff. - Tim Cook


Discrimination, in all its forms, is bad for business. - Tim Cook


I think two people with strong points of view can appreciate each other even more. - Tim Cook


Anything can change because the smartphone revolution is still in the early stages. - Tim Cook


I am who I am, and I'm focused on that, and being a great CEO of Apple. - Tim Cook


People like things they can do now, not just think about. - Tim Cook


If you look at the automobile in many countries, there is a certified pre-owned market for Lexus, BMW, and many other brands. When you buy a high-end smartphone, you can expect the same kind of situation there. - Tim Cook

Favorite Tim Cook Quotes On Leadership

Leadership - We’re very simple people at Apple. We focus on making the world’s best products and enriching people’s lives. - Tim Cook


The reality is, is that we love competition, at Apple. We think it makes us all better. But we want people to invent their own stuff. - Tim Cook


When Apple looks at what categories to enter, we ask these kinds of questions: What are the primary technologies behind this? What do we bring? Can we make a significant contribution to society with this? If we can't, and if we can't own the key technologies, we don't do it. - Tim Cook


The pre-owned market allows us to reach customers who really want an Apple device but can't really reach that point. I think it is great for people, or otherwise, we wouldn't we doing it. If we were not proud of the product, we wouldn't be doing it. - Tim Cook


If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy. - Tim Cook


I believe that if you took privacy and you said, I’m willing to give up all of my privacy to be secure. So you weighted it as a zero. My own view is that encryption is a much better, much better world. And I’m not the only person that thinks that. - Tim Cook


Honestly, we’ll compete with everybody. I love competition. As long as people invent their own stuff, I love competition. - Tim Cook


So I had to figure out for myself what was right and true. It was a search. It was a process. It drew on the moral sense that I’d learned from my parents, and in church, and in my own heart, and led me on my own journey of discovery. - Tim Cook


I don’t own encryption, Apple doesn’t own encryption. Encryption, as you know, is everywhere. In fact some of encryption is funded by our government. - Tim Cook


Our new watches are made entirely of double super gold. They are just a piece of gold that you can wear to the left, right, or directly on top of the other gold you own. - Tim Cook


Our whole role in life is to give you something you didn't know you wanted. And then once you get it, you can't imagine your life without it. And you can count on Apple doing that. - Tim Cook


I'd rather Apple cannibalize Apple than somebody else cannibalize Apple. - Tim Cook


Apple has a culture of excellence that is, I think, so unique and so special. I'm not going to witness or permit the change of it. - Tim Cook


We have to make sure, at Apple, that we stay true to focus, laser focus - we know we can only do great things a few times, only on a few products. - Tim Cook


We're very simple people at Apple. We focus on making the world's best products and enriching people's lives. - Tim Cook


Apple is the only company that can take hardware, software, and services and integrate those into an experience that's an 'aha' for the customer. You can take that and apply to markets that we're not in today. - Tim Cook


I've been thinking about 'The Jetsons' since I was a kid. But occasionally, you want 'The Jetsons' to come to reality. That's what Apple is so great at: Productizing things and bringing them to you so you can be a part of it. - Tim Cook


Leadership - I don't view Apple or myself as an activist. What we do is for some things where we think we have deep knowledge, or think we do, or a strong point of view, we're not shy. We'll stand up, speak out - even when our voice shakes. - Tim Cook


I’d rather Apple cannibalize Apple than somebody else cannibalize Apple. - Tim Cook


Apple has a culture of excellence that is, I think, so unique and so special. I’m not going to witness or permit the change of it. - Tim Cook


Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. - Tim Cook


Apple Pay is forever changing the way we pay for things. - Tim Cook


Apple Stores Offer the Best Buying Experience and Customer Service On The Planet. - Tim Cook

Famous Tim Cook Quotes On Innovation

From an app point of view, if you looked at innovation on the PC, you'd be hard-pressed to find companies innovating. The list is small. - Tim Cook


The right focus for the U.S. is on advanced manufacturing - something that requires innovation. - Tim Cook


This is Steve's company. This is still Steve's company. It was born that way; it's still that way. And so his spirit, I think, will always be the DNA of this company. - Tim Cook


The way we look at manufacturing is this: the U.S.'s strategy should be to skate where the puck is going, not where it is. - Tim Cook


The kind of investors we seek are long-term because that's how we make our decisions. - Tim Cook


You can focus on things that are barriers or you can focus on scaling the wall or redefining the problem. - Tim Cook


I think the iPhone is the best consumer product ever. That's what I feel about it. And it's become so integrated and integral to our lives, you wouldn't think about leaving home without it. - Tim Cook


I think of a traditional CEO as being divorced from customers. A lot of consumer company CEOs - they're not really interacting with consumers. - Tim Cook


We see that in the top problems in the world between haves and have-nots, generally, we find that the root cause is education. - Tim Cook


Companies that get confused, that think their goal is revenue or stock price or something. You have to focus on the things that lead to those. - Tim Cook


Augmented reality will take some time to get right, but I do think that it's profound. - Tim Cook


National security always matters, obviously. But the reality is that if you have an open door in your software for the good guys, the bad guys get in there, too. - Tim Cook


I think the most diverse group will produce the best product; I firmly believe that. - Tim Cook


When technological advancement can go up so exponentially, I do think there's a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around. - Tim Cook


Our goal has never been to make the most. It's always been to make the best. - Tim Cook


Life is fragile. We're not guaranteed a tomorrow so give it everything you've got. - Tim Cook


Let your joy be in your journey - not in some distant goal. - Tim Cook


I'm excited about Augmented Reality because unlike Virtual Reality, which closes the world out, AR allows individuals to be present in the world but hopefully allows an improvement on what's happening presently. - Tim Cook


You want to be the pebble in the pond that creates the ripple for change. - Tim Cook


If you embrace that the things that you can do are limitless, you can put your ding in the universe. You can change the world. - Tim Cook


I hope people remember me as a good and decent man. And if they do, then that's a success. - Tim Cook


If you look at iPod, iPod wasn't viewed as a success, but today it's viewed as an overnight success. The iPhone was the same way. People were writing about there being no physical keyboard. Obviously, nobody would want it. - Tim Cook


For us, the most important thing we can do is raise people up - that is, either by giving them the ability to do things they could not otherwise do, allow them to create things they couldn't otherwise create. It's about giving them tools; it is about empowering people. - Tim Cook


You have to find the intersection of doing something you're passionate about and that, at the same time, is in the service of other people. I would argue if you don't find that intersection, you're not going to be very happy. - Tim Cook


If you believe, as we believe, that diversity leads to better products, and we're all about making products that enrich people's lives, then you obviously put a ton of energy behind diversity the same way you would put a ton of energy behind anything else that is truly important. - Tim Cook

meet the author
Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.