Trust Quotes: 55 Quotes About Trust in Business in 2023

Can I trust this person?

How often have you had this thought in business or your personal life? Even if we don't say it out loud or consciously think about it, all of us are evaluating the people we meet, the things they say, and the actions they take to determine whether we believe them or not.

Here's some sage advice on trust, confidence and belief from notable figures from all walks of life—business leaders, athletes, authors, soldiers, journalists, poets, actors, scientists and thinkers. 

Enjoy these 55 quotes on trust, organized by category.

Quotes on the Importance of Trust

1. A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts. - Harold Macmillan
   
2. By the standards of the rest of the world, we overtrust. So far it has worked very well for us. - Charlie Munger
3. If we do not trust one another, we are already defeated. - Allison Croggon
4. Self-trust is the first secret of success. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
6. The glue that holds business relationships together, that is trust, and this trust is purely based on integrity. - Brian Tracy
   
7. Trust is a currency; you can't afford not to invest in it. Interestingly enough, trust can only be built, maintained, and repaired through conversations. - Juliana Vergara
   
8. Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships. - Stephen Covey
9. Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people. - Stephen Covey
10. Trust has to be the highest value in your company, and if it’s not, something bad is going to happen to you. - Marc Benioff

Marc Benioff (source)

Quotes on Establishing Trust

11. Consistency is the true foundation of trust. Either keep your promises or do not make them. - Roy T. Bennett
12. Being trustworthy requires: Doing the right thing. And doing things right. - Don Peppers
13. Trusting is hard. Knowing who to trust, even harder. - Maria Snyder
14. Trust is built and maintained by many small actions over time. - Lolly Daskal
15. It takes two to do the trust tango--the one who risks (the trustor) and the one who is trustworthy (the trustee); each must play their role. - Warren Buffett
16. Better to trust the man who is frequently in error than the one who is never in doubt. - Eric Sevareid
17. Authenticity is the alignment of head, mouth, heart, and feet – thinking, saying, feeling, and doing the same thing – consistently. - Lance Secretan
18. Most of us consider trust to be built slowly, with verification, and in degrees. ...trust is created by a combination of things and, while the end result is almost magical, the process cannot be rushed. - Mac Richard
19. Contrary to what most people believe, trust is not some soft, illusive quality that you either have or you don’t; rather, trust is a pragmatic, tangible, actionable asset that you can create. - Stephen Covey

Quotes on the Benefits of Trust

20. Content builds relationships, relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue. - Andrew Davis
21. Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him. -  Booker T. Washington
22. When people honor each other, there is a trust established that leads to synergy, interdependence, and deep respect. Both parties make decisions and choices based on what is right, what is best, what is valued most highly. - Blaine Lee Pardoe
23. Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities of which they were previously unaware. - David Armistead
24. Trustful people are pure at heart, as they are moved by the zeal of their own trustworthiness. - Criss Jami
25. Respect is earned. Honesty is appreciated. Trust is gained. Loyalty is returned. - Oscar Auliq-Ice
26. If people like you, they will listen to you. but if people trust you, they will do business with you. - Zig Ziglar
27. When the trust is high, communication is easy, instant, and effective. - Stephen Covey
28. A trust leap is when we take a risk to do something new or to do it differently from the way that we’ve done something before. - Rachel Botsman

Rachel Botsman (source)

Quotes on Trust in Leadership

29. Trust your team. Let others do their work so you can concentrate wholly on your own. - Gene King
30. Trust starts with trustworthy leadership. It must be built into the corporate culture. - Barbara Brooks Kimmel
31. The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I.' And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say 'I.' They don't think 'I.' They think 'we'; they think 'team.' .... This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. - Peter Drucker
32. People follow leaders by choice. Without trust, at best you get compliance. - Jesse Lyn Stoner
33. The best leaders build trust from the inside out. An organization that does not have the trust of its employees can never earn the trust of its customers. - Scott Baradell
34. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerability. Be transparent with your team, even when the truth may be unpopular or inconvenient. - Bill George
35. Your words and deeds must match if you expect employees to trust in your leadership. - Kevin Kruse
36. Leadership is the relentless pursuit of truth and ceaseless creation of trust. - Jack Welch

Quotes on Trust in the Workplace

37. Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. - Warren Bennis
38. Without trust, we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team. - Stephen Covey
39. A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other - Simon Sinek
40. When people don’t trust each other, everything is slow and takes a million meetings. It’s like sludge and they block each other. Nothing moves quickly. You end up doubling up on resources. If you could just trust each other, you could talk about issues. - Kate Morris
41. If you don't have trust inside your company, then you can't transfer it to your customers. - Roger Staubach
42. Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing it because they care about the team. - Patrick Lencioni
43. Without trust, you generate a dysfunctional organization and teams. There is no meaningful connection between a group of people. It’s just meaningless coordination. It is trust that shifts a group of people into a team. - Marie-Claire Ross

Marie-Claire Ross (source)

Quotes on Trust in Marketing

44. It’s important to remember that trust is a matter of perception and something every business has to earn. - Adam Rogers
45. Without a doubt, there’s a new endgame in today’s digital economy. Consumers don’t just buy products and services anymore; they buy experiences. This demands a new approach to marketing, sales, and services; one that hinges on winning customer trust. - Ben Jackson
46. Customers hold brands to a higher level of expectation, resulting in brand trust declines. As such, 83% of consumers refuse to do business with brands they do not trust. To build trust, brands must focus on exhibiting transparency, warmth, honesty, and reliability. - Alizah Asif Farooq
47. The brand trust bar is higher than it’s ever been. Our research shows that 74% of customers expect more from brands — not just around product performance or durability, but in how brands treat their customers, employees and the environment. - Carlos Guerrero
48. Public relations is the art of securing trust at scale. - Scott Baradell
49. Trust signals are the evidence points that build belief in your brand online. - Scott Baradell
50. Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest. - Seth Godin

Seth Godin (photo by Ayman van Bregt under Creative Commons license)

Quotes on the Loss of Trust

51. Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters. - Albert Einstein
52. Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair. - Amy Rees Anderson
53. As technology enables trust in new forms, we’re seeing a decline of trust in institutions. - Rachel Botsman
54. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. - Warren Buffett
    
55. Trust and relationship building are things that we focus on in our lives every day. But the same rule about not associating with people you don’t trust extends beyond personal interactions. If consumers think a brand participates in shady activities or is simply not transparent, sales and user engagement will fall fast. - Chris Christoff