Decades ago, I read Ogilvy on Advertising and then more recently Ken Roman’s biography, The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising. I highly recommend both.

Here are ten memorable Ogilvy quotations that are relevant to any efforts to communicate effectively.

1. “The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.”

2. “The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”

3. “Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ball park. Aim for the company of immortals.”

4. “I have a theory that the best ads come from personal experience. Some of the good ones I have done have really come out of the real experience of my life, and somehow this has come over as true and valid and persuasive.”

5. “I don’t know the rules of grammar… If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.”

6. “Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.”

7. “If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don’t let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising.”

8. “First, make yourself a reputation for being a creative genius. Second, surround yourself with partners who are better than you are. Third, leave them to go get on with it.”

9. “Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”

10. “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar. “