John D. Rockefeller

“Giving should be entered into in just the same way as investing. Giving is investing.”

“I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.”

“The man will be most successful who confers the greatest service on the world.”

“The American Beauty Rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it. This is not an evil tendency in business. It is merely the working-out of a law of nature and a law of God.”

“I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.”

“The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”

“I'm glad I wrote the book to show what I found out about the [ Standard Oil Company]. I'm glad many people read my book and found out the truth.”

“Long ago I lost the joy in living. The only joy I have is in my giving.”

“Giving is the secret to a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a person has to give of encouragement, sympathy, and understanding.”

“Own nothing, control everything.”

“Believing that fundamental conditions of the country are sound and there is nothing in the business situation to warrant the destruction of values that has taken place on the exchanges during the past week, my son and I have for some days been purchasing sound common stocks. We are continuing and will continue our purchases in substantial amounts at levels which we believe represent sound investment values.”

“Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one's aim.”

“I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.”

“Don't blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.”

“When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognised. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.”

“Be sure that you are not deceiving yourself at any time about actual conditions.”

“The only question with wealth is, what do you do with it?”

“Probably the greatest single obstacle to the progress and happiness of the American people lies in the willingness of so many men to invest their time and money in multiplying competitive industries instead of opening up new fields, and putting their money into lines of industry and development that are needed.”

“If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.”

“Character - not wealth, power, or position - is the supreme word.”

“Save when you can and not when you have to.”

“I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.”

“It is very important to remember what other people tell you, not so much what you yourself already know.”

“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.”

“I have long been profoundly convinced that in the very nature of things, employers and employees are partners, not enemies; that their interests are common not opposed; that in the long run the success of each is dependent upon the success of the other.”

“The man who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won't succeed, you must have a larger ambition.”

“The common denominator for success is work.”

“It has always been my rule in business to make everything count.”

“The success of each is dependent upon the success of the other.”

“Never was I power thirsty, or trying to control everyone. I believed in educating everyone, so they could all get to the position I was at.”

“I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.”

“A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.”

“Taxation has its limitations as a method of achieving better economic distribution since for this purpose it is essentially remedial. We must also take a positive approach by finding new ways to spread ownership of future capital growth more broadly in our society.”

“I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money's sake.”

“There is no feeling in this world to be compared with self-reliance--do not sacrifice that to anything else.”

“The best philanthropy is constantly in search of the finalities-a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source.”

“Get rich by taking something common and making it uncommon.”

“A man has no right to occupy another man’s time unnecessarily”

“The task is simple. We will organize children and teach them in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.”

“I never said that I wanted to be the only company, is it my fault that I ran my company well? Wouldn't you want the best for your company? Also consider that I started of small.”

“You know that great prejudice exists against all successful business enterprise - the more successful, the greater the prejudice.”

“Our cup will truly run over only after we have sealed the character cracks.”

“I was born into it and there was nothing I could do about it. It was there, like air or food, or any other element. The only question with wealth is what you do with it.”

“When a man has accumulated a sum of money, accumulated it within the law, the Government has no right to share in its earnings.”

“Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It's to see my dividends coming in.”

“Competition is a sin.”

“Think of giving not only as a duty but as a privilege.”

“I should say in general the advantage of education is to better fit a man for life's work. I would advise young men to take a college course, as a rule, but think some are just as well off with a thorough business training.”

“I was trained from the beginning to work, to save, and to give.”

“Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”