Jeff Bezos is the CEO at Amazon, one of the most amazing companies to have emerged in the universe of on-line retailing. There is no question that he is a business genius, innovating and guiding his company to ever more successful approaches to customer service and sales.

Here are a few valuable quotes from Bezos showing just small bit of his acumen, giving us mere mortals some insight into how his mind works.

•    Do not rest on your laurels, as Bezos said, “A company shouldn’t get addicted to being shiny, because shiny does not last.”

•    What is the driving force behind innovation? Bezos knows: “I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.”

•    On the importance of responding to customers and their needs: “If you’re competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.”

•    Afraid of criticism? That can harm your business: “If you never want to be criticized, for goodness’ sake don’t do anything new.”

Among Bezos’ other accomplishments, aside from his success at Amazon, is the purchase of the Washington Post for $250 million in early 2013; and the funding of the building of a 10,000-year clock inside a mountain in the Sierra Diablo Mountain Range in the West Texas desert.