John D. Rockefeller Quotes

"The most important thing for a young man is to establish credit - a reputation and character."

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

"I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature."

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

"Competition is a sin."

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"[But longtime friend and competitor Robert Johnson, who founded BET, says,] To me, his achievements would rival those of any business person in America, ... He had charisma, tenacity and passion to convince people that there was such a thing as a black consumer market."

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

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