“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.”

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

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.

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

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

If my name were John D Smith IV I wouldn’t have been elected to anything.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?”

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.

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

For once I want to be something that lasts.

Free is a man who has no desires.

What we are and what we possess is but a loan- and that not for long! Do not clutch what has been given to you, for joy and desire to possess are but nails fastening you to the perishable world.

My desire for connection is stronger than my desire for perfection.

True devotion is for itself: not to desire heaven nor to fear hell.

Even if we all want you here, you don’t belong until you decide you do.

Whatever befalls us has its meaning; though it is often hard to grasp. In the Book of Life every page has two sides. On the upper one, we inscribe our plans, dreams and hopes; the reverse is filled by providence, whose verdicts rarely match our desire.

The desire to play has always been in me. I remember my first experience at about four or five of really dying to sing and dying to play that came from no one telling me to do so.