Culture is not something you put on like a ready-made suit of clothes, but a nourishment you absorb to build up your personality, just as food builds up the body of a growing boy; it is not an ornament to decorate a phrase, still less to show off your knowledge, but a means, painfully acquired, to enrich the soul.

As I see it, a person’s culture represents his appraisal of the things that make up his life. And a fellow becomes cultured, I believe, by selecting that which is fine and beautiful in life and throwing aside that which is mediocre or phony. Sort of a series of free, very personal choices, you might say. If this is true, then I think it follows that ‘freedom’ is the most precious word to culture. Freedom to believe what you choose and read, think and say and be with what you choose. In America, we are guaranteed these freedoms. It is the constitutional privilege of every American to become cultured or to grow up like Donald Duck. I believe that this spiritual and intellectual freedom, which we Americans enjoy, is our greatest cultural blessing. Therefore, it seems to me, that the first duty of culture is to defend freedom and resist all tyranny.

The only way to understand another culture is to assume the frame of reference of that culture.

Culture may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living.

It is only when you meet someone of a different culture from yourself that you begin to realise what your own beliefs really are.

culture – the collectively shared meaning

Culture is necessary for human beings to evolve into better creatures.

You don’t create a culture. It happens. This is why new companies don’t have a culture. Culture is the by-product of consistent behavior.

Culture can be loosely defined as the body of non-genetic information which people pass from generation to generation.

Culture can feel abstract and secondary when you pit it against a concrete result that’s right in front of you. Culture is a strategic investment in the company doing things the right way when you are not looking.

Someone has said that culture is what remains with you after you have forgotten all you have read, and I believe there is much truth in that.

Culture is the byproduct of consistent behavior. If you encourage people to share, then sharing will be built into your culture. If you reward trust, then trust will be built in. If you treat customers right, then treating customers right becomes your culture.

Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.

Because your culture is how your company makes decisions when you’re not there. It’s the set of assumptions your employees use to resolve the problems they face every day. It’s how they behave when no one is looking. If you don’t methodically set your culture, then two-thirds of it will end up being accidental, and the rest will be a mistake.