John D. Rockefeller Quotes

“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.”

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

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

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

“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.”

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

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

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

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

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

“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 thrift is essential to well-ordered living.”

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

“Own nothing, control everything.”

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

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

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

“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.”