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

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

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

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.

Believing that fundamental conditions of the country are sound, my son and I have for some days been purchasing sound common stocks

Get rich by taking something common and making it uncommon.

The best philanthropy is constantly in search of the finalities-a search for a cause, an attempt to cure evils at their source.

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.

I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to build.

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

Giving is the secret to a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a person has to give of encouragement, sympathy, and understanding.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

The highest test of the civilization of any race is in its willingness to extend a helping hand to the less fortunate.

If a society does not wage a common struggle to attain a common goal with its women and men, scientifically there is no way for it to become civilized or developed.

Civilization means conforming to a standard of behavior that may not seem natural to us.

Scopes isn’t on trial; civilization is on trial.

Civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest.

Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others.

Science is the most reliable guide for civilization, for life, for success in the world. Searching a guide other than the science is meaning carelessness, ignorance and heresy.

Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity.