“It has always been my rule in business to make everything count.”

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.

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

The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.

He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in business, becomes happy.

While I am a capitalist at heart and I have no problems with commercialization as such, I believe that while it’s okay if education becomes a profitable business, it’s not okay if it becomes corrupt.

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 secret of success is to get up early, work late and strike oil.

I’m no longer an artist, I’m a business partner.

We made a plan at school to meet in her garage and kiss. It was like this little business deal. I kissed her and then I ran home

Who people like is their own business. It don’t concern me. I know what I do – and I’m having a lot of fun with the women that I’m with.

Privatization is presented as being the only alternative to an inefficient, corrupt state. In fact, it is not a choice at all… it is a mutually profitable business contract between the private company (preferably foreign) and the ruling elite of the Third World.