John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York. Rockefeller was an American industrialist, entrepreneur and CEO. When he was 14 his family relocated to New York to Cleveland, Ohio and, as a teen, he started various small-scale business ventures. He was offered his first job at 16 the position was as an assistant bookkeeper for Hewitt & Tuttle. At the age of 20, he quit the position to start a business on his own, with the help of a business partner. He was an independent merchant of the fields of hay, grains meat, as well as other items. In the course of his first year of operation the company of Rockefeller had earned $450,000. In the 1850s The shrewd Rockefeller saw a potential in the oil industry and made the decision to set up an oil refinery in Cleveland that opened in 1863. Then, two years after the Cleveland refinery became the biggest in the area. That was when he decided to devote his entire focus to the oil industry. Here are the great quotes of John D. Rockefeller on wealth and education that will inspire you to do more.
- “There is nothing in this world that can compare with the Christian fellowship; nothing that can satisfy but Christ.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The best philanthropy is constantly in search of the finalities-a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller
“I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.”— John D. Rockefeller.
- “I cheat my boys every chance I get. I trade with the boys and skin ‘em and I just beat ‘em every time I can. I want to make ‘em sharp.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Oh, how blessed young men are who have to struggle for a foundation and beginning in life.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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!”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Get rich by taking something common and making it uncommon.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “It has always been my rule in business to make everything count.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism has gone, never to return.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “A man has no right to occupy another man’s time unnecessarily.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “It is very important to remember what other people tell you, not so much what you yourself already know.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee. And I will pay more for that ability.”— John D. Rockefeller
“I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Capital and labor are both wild forces which require intelligent legislation to hold them in restriction.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I would rather hire a man with enthusiasm, than a man who knows everything.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Don’t blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends coming in.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Nobody does anything if he can get anybody else to do it.”― John D. Rockefeller
- “When work goes out of style we may expect to see civilization totter and fall.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The man who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed, you must have a larger ambition.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The art of concentrating the mind on the thing to be done at the proper time and to the exclusion of everything else?”— John D. Rockefeller
- “There is no feeling in this world to be compared with self-reliance – do not sacrifice that to anything else.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The most important thing for a young man is to establish a credit, a reputation, character.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The secret to success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”― John D. Rockefeller
- “Success comes from keeping the ears open and the mouth closed.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “It is only efforts the man himself puts forth that can really help him.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The success of each is dependent upon the success of the other.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The common denominator for success is work.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “You know that great prejudice exists against all successful business enterprise – the more successful, the greater the prejudice.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The man will be most successful who confers the greatest service on the world.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal; I had an ambition to build.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “A man’s wealth must be determined by the relation of his desires and expenditures to his income.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Money is a way of keeping count on how well you’re doing in business.”— John D. Rockefelle
- “A man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character — not wealth or power or position — is of supreme worth.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “How much money does it take to make a man happy? Just one more dollar.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “The world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.”— John D. Rockefeller.
- “I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I saw a marvelous future for our country, and I wanted to participate in the work of making our country great.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefelle.
“Own nothing, control everything.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I have made many millions but they have brought me no happiness.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Save when you can and not when you have to.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “He who works all day has no time to make money.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Never lose interest in life and the world. Never allow yourself to become annoyed.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can and will triumph over might.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Perseverance can overcome all obstacles. Even the laws of nature cannot stop it.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller
You may also like: Business Motivational Quotes to Inspire Entrepreneurs
- “I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Showing average people how to do work of superior people is good leadership.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.”— John D. Rockefeller.
- “After it is all over, the religion of man is his most important possession.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Our cup will truly run over only after we have sealed the character cracks.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Think of giving not only as a duty but as a privilege.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Giving should be entered into in just the same way as investing. Giving is investing.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Giving is the secret to a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a person has to give of encouragement, sympathy, and understanding.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “Long ago I lost the joy in living. The only joy I have is in my giving.”— John D. Rockefeller
- “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.”— John D. Rockefeller“The only thing which is of lasting benefit to a man is that which he does for himself.”— John D. Rockefeller..
