John D. Rockefeller Quotes

John D. Rockefeller presents pragmatic, business-focused insights on charity, duty, and profit that provoke reflection.

52 quotes

1. Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient become independent

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

3. I would rather hire a man with enthusiasm, than a man who knows everything.

4. 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.

5. The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets

6. I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

7. Competition is a sin.

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

9. I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience.

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

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

12. Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty.

13. Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

14. 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.

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

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

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

18. 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.

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

20. 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.

21. I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people's efforts than 100% of my own efforts.

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

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

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

25. Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.

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

27. 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.

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

29. The only question with wealth is, what do you do with it?

30. 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.

31. After it is all over, the religion of man is his most important possession.

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

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

34. There is nothing in this world that can compare with the Christian fellowship; nothing that can satisfy but Christ.

35. The major fortunes in America have been made in land.

36. Get rich by taking something common and making it uncommon.

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

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

39. 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.

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

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

42. I raised my prices since there wasn't any competition it was just the smart thing to do. Why would I keep my prices up if their wasn't anyone to beat?

43. Many of the deficiencies of our economic system could be alleviated if ways were found to broaden the ownership of the means of production... This has happened in some companies through ESOPs. Successful approaches of this sort would pay dividends in terms of employee commitment and morale. And they would not deprive anyone of his present holdings since they are based on future growth.

44. Save when you can and not when you have to.

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

46. The common denominator for success is work.

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

48. The person who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won't succeed; you must have a larger ambition. There is no mystery in business success. If you do each day's task successfully, and stay faithfully within these natural operations of commercial laws which I talk so much about, and keep your head clear, you will come out all right.

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

50. A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.

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

52. 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.