100+ Quotes by John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller, an American business magnate, defined the landscape of modern capitalism through his pioneering efforts in the oil industry. As the founder of Standard Oil, he revolutionized business practices and amassed immense wealth. His strategic vision, marked by ruthless efficiency and vertical integration, propelled him to a position of unprecedented economic power. Rockefeller's influence extended beyond business, as he channeled his wealth into philanthropic endeavors, ultimately contributing to the founding of institutions like the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller Foundation. His legacy is a complex one, reflecting both the transformative impact of his innovations on the global economy and the ethical debates surrounding the concentration of wealth and power.
John D. Rockefeller Quotes
The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well. (Meaning)
Own nothing, control everything. (Meaning)
Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. (Meaning)
I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people's efforts than 100% of my own efforts. (Meaning)
Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it. (Meaning)
I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity. (Meaning)
A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship. (Meaning)
I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure (Meaning)
Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty. (Meaning)
Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people. (Meaning)
I have ways of making money that you know nothing of. (Meaning)
If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it. (Meaning)
The only question with wealth is, what do you do with it? (Meaning)
I believe the power to make money is a gift of God. (Meaning)
The major fortunes in America have been made in land. (Meaning)
God gave me my money. (Meaning)
Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
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.
God gave me my money. I believe the power to make money is a gift from God . to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. Having been endowed with the gift I possess, 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.
I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.
Success comes from keeping the ears open and the mouth closed
I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.
I would rather hire a man with enthusiasm, than a man who knows everything.
If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.
Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty.
The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.
Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one's aim.
The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets.
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.
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.
Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.
The man who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won't succeed, you must have a larger ambition.
And we are never too old to study the Bible. Each time the lessons are studied comes some new meaning, some new thought which will make us better.
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.
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.
How much money does it take to make a man happy? Just one more dollar.
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.
Never lose interest in life and the world. Never allow yourself to become annoyed.
The man will be most successful who confers the greatest service on the world.
There is no feeling in this world to be compared with self-reliance--do not sacrifice that to anything else.
Giving should be entered into in just the same way as investing. Giving is investing.
I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to build.
Do not many of us who fail to achieve big things. . .fail because we lack concentration--the art of concentrating the mind on the thing to be done at the proper time and to the exclusion of everything else?
I don't want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers
Homeopathy is a progressive and aggressive step in medicine.
Oh, how blessed young men are who have to struggle for a foundation and beginning in life.
I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people's efforts than 100% of my own efforts.
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.
Our cup will truly run over only after we have sealed the character cracks.
I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.
A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.
Save when you can and not when you have to.
Competition is a sin.
I have no use for men who fail. The cause of their failure is no business of mine, but I want successful men as my associates.
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.
The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit... a reputation, character.
Character - not wealth, power, or position - is the supreme word.
The common denominator for success is work.
I have made many millions but they have brought me no happiness.
It is very important to remember what other people tell you, not so much what you yourself already know.
To think! All that power and he wasn't even rich.
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.
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.
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?
A friendship built on business can be glorious, while a business built on friendship can be murder.
Get rich by taking something common and making it uncommon.
The success of each is dependent upon the success of the other.
After it is all over, the religion of man is his most important possession.
Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.
Think of giving not only as a duty but as a privilege.
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?"
The secret of success is to get up early, work late and strike oil.
I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.
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!
Be sure that you are not deceiving yourself at any time about actual conditions.
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.
It has always been my rule in business to make everything count.
Don't blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.
I believe the power to make money is a gift of God.
God gave me my money.
I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.
Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.
I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living.
There is nothing in this world that can compare with the Christian fellowship; nothing that can satisfy but Christ.
If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.
Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It's to see my dividends coming in.
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.
A man has no right to occupy another man’s time unnecessarily
The only question with wealth is, what do you do with it?
I think it is a man's duty to make all the money he can, keep all that he can and give away all that he can.
The major fortunes in America have been made in land.
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 day of combination is here to stay. Individualism has gone, never to return.
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.
Singleness of purpose is essential for success in life.
It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy.
The best business in the world is a well run oil company. The second best business in the world is a badly run oil company.
Long ago I lost the joy in living. The only joy I have is in my giving.
The best philanthropy is constantly in search of the finalities-a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source.
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 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.
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.
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.
Money is a way of keeping COUNT on how well you're doing in business.
I had to work my way up to be where I am now. All these companies could have done the same.
I wanted the best for my company, I had to do what I did to succeed. Everyone was lowering their prices to beat there competition so I did the same I eventually beat my competition.
I believe the power to make money is a gift from God...to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind.
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.
If my name were John D Smith IV I wouldn't have been elected to anything.
Let the good work go on. We must ever remember we are refining oil for the poor man and he must have it cheap and good.
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.
Capital and labor are both wild forces which require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction.
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 believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You know that great prejudice exists against all successful business enterprise - the more successful, the greater the prejudice.
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.
I was trained from the beginning to work, to save, and to give.
This Sunday School has been of help to me, greater perhaps than any other force in my Christian life, and I can ask no better things for you than that you, and all that shall come after you in this great band of workers for Christ, shall receive the same measure of blessedness which I have been permitted to have.
When work goes out of style we may expect to see civilization totter and fall.
We can never learn too much of His will towards us, too much of His messages and His advice. The Bible is His word and its study gives at once the foundation for our faith and an inspiration to battle onward in the fight against the tempter.
I was trained from the beginning to work, to save. I have always regarded it a as a religious duty to get all I could honorably and to give all I could.
When a man has accumulated a sum of money, accumulated it within the law, the Government has no right to share in its earnings.
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 shall use such influence as I have in emphasizing the basic truths common to all denominations, in lowering denominational barriers and in promoting effective cooperation among Christians of whatever creed.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Believing that fundamental conditions of the country are sound ... my son and I have for some days been purchasing sound common stocks
― John D. Rockefeller Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
