John D. Rockefeller Quotes

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.

Who is the poorest man in the world? I tell you, the poorest man I know of is the man who has nothing but money.

The common denominator for success is work.

I have nothing else to say other than I wasn't corrupt, unfair, or greedy. I was smart when it came to making decisions for my company, and I wasn't greedy. I gave to others in charity and donated money to fund programs. I have nothing else to say.

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

I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.

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

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

Competition is a sin.

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

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

We are coming to see that there should be no stifling of labor by capital, or of capital by labor; and also that there should be no stifling of labor by labor, or of capital by capital.

When work goes out of style we may expect to see civilization totter and fall.

I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

What constitutes a good manager in this field? He must be knowledgeable in the art with which he is concerned, an impresario, labor negotiator, diplomat, educator, publicity and public relations expert, politician, skilled businessman, a social sophisticate, a servant of the community, a tireless leader - becomingly humble before authority - a teacher, a tyrant, and a continuing student of the arts.

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

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

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.

Own nothing, control everything.

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

I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living.

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.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

The secret of success is to get up early, work late and strike oil.

I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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

A man's wealth must be determined by the relation of his desires and expenditures to his income. If he feels rich on ten dollars, and has everything else he desires, he really is rich.

That is not true I am not a greedy man because if I was why would i donate money to charity?I care about others as well.

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

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

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

The impression was gaining ground with me that it was a good thing to let the money be my slave and not make myself a slave to money.

Capital and labor are both wild forces which require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction.

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

To think! All that power and he wasn't even rich!

Never think you need to apologize for asking someone to give to a worthy cause, any more than as though you were giving him or her an opportunity to participate in a high-grade investment. The duty of giving is as much his or hers as is the duty of asking yours.

My mother was given to a typical question: "We have always done this. Why should we do anything else?" But my wife's typical question was "We have always done this. Why don't we do it another way or, better still, why not do something else?"

I don't want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers

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.

The person with big talk and big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts. I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

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.

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

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 success of each is dependent upon the success of the other.

Never lose interest in life and the world. Never allow yourself to become annoyed.

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

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

How much money does it take to make a man happy? Just one more dollar.

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

The major fortunes in America have been made in land.

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

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

I had to work my way up to be where I am now. All these companies could have done the same.

Oh, how blessed young men are who have to struggle for a foundation and beginning in life.

Often-times the most difficult competition comes, not from the strong, the intelligent, the conservative competitor, but from the man who is holding on by the eyelids and is ignorant of his costs, and anyway he's got to keep running or bust!

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.

Save when you can and not when you have to.

The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism has gone, never to return.

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.