J. Paul Getty quotes: sayings from late oil tycoon and one of the richest Americans ever, Jean Paul Getty.
“If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.”
“The number one guideline to success is you must be in business for yourself. When you work for someone else, you sell your time at wholesale to your employer, who then resells it at retail to the customer.”
“You must not only learn to live with tension, you must seek it out. You must learn to thrive on stress.”
“Seek advice on risk from the wealthy who still take risks, not friends who dare nothing more than a football bet.”
“A man can fail, but he isn’t a failure until he blames someone else.”
“In my opinion, an individual without any love of the arts cannot be considered completely civilized.”
“People who don’t respect money don’t have any.”
“There are always opportunities through which businessmen can profit handsomely if they will only recognize and seize them.”
“The key to wealth is to learn how to make money while you sleep.”
“If you owe the bank $100, that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.”
“There are 100 men seeking security to one able man who is willing to risk his fortune.”
“Build wealth as a byproduct of your business success. If wealth is your only objective in business, you will probably fail.”
“I would rather receive 1% of the income of 100 men, than 100% of the income of one man.”
“Getting results through people is a skill that cannot be learned in the classroom.”
“Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.”
“The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him, and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.”
“Patience; this is the greatest business asset. Wait for the right time to make your moves.”
“If you look after the pennies, the dollars will look after themselves.”
“To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business.”
“Going to work for a large company is like getting on a train. Are you going 60 miles an hour or is the train going 60 miles an hour and you’re just sitting still?”
“In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.”
“You must never try to make all the money that’s in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won’t have many deals.”
“Without the element of uncertainty, the bringing off of even, the greatest business triumph would be dull, routine, and eminently unsatisfying.”
“The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.”
“I have no complex about wealth. I have worked very hard for my money; producing things people need.”
“No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or ‘get rich’ in business by being a conformist.”
“Money isn’t everything but it sure keeps you in touch with your children.”
“Once you have made it, you will understand that any business is limited in the challenges it offers. You will want and need other games to play, so you will look for other ventures to hold your interest.”
“I buy when other people are selling.”
“There are no safeguards that can protect the emotional investor from himself.”
“You must take risks, both with your own money or with borrowed money. Risk-taking is essential to business growth.”
“In business, as in politics, it is never easy to go against the beliefs and attitudes held by the majority. The businessman who moves counter to the tide of prevailing opinion must expect to be obstructed, derided, and damned.”
“Oil is like a wild animal. Whoever captures it has it.”
“A sense of thrift is essential to success in business. The businessman must discipline himself to practice economy whenever possible, in his personal life as well as his business affairs.”
“Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells.”
“Age doesn’t matter, unless you are cheese.”
“The man who comes up with a means for doing or producing almost anything better, faster, or more economically has his future and his fortune at his fingertips.”
“There is only one way to make a great deal of money; and that is in a business of your own.”
“I find all this money a considerable burden.”
“If you can actually count your money, you’re not a rich man.”
“Men of means look at making money as a game which they love to play.”
“Buy when everyone else is selling and hold until everyone else is buying. That’s not just a catchy slogan. It’s the very essence of successful investing.”
