John D. Rockefeller Quotes

“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.”

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

“If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.”

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

“The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit: a reputation, character.”

“The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.”

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

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

“All my future seemed to hinge on that day; and I often tremble when I ask myself the question: "What if I had not got the job?"

“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.”

“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.”

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

“It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy.”

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

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

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

“Competition is a sin.”

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

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

“I believe it is a religious duty to get all the money you can, fairly and honestly; to keep all you can, and to give away all you can.”

“I believe the power to make money is a gift of God, to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind.”

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

“The only thing which is of lasting benefit to a man is that which he does for himself.”

“If a combination to do business is effective in saving waste and in getting better results, why is not combination in philanthropic work even more important?”

“God gave me my money.”