Aristotle Onassis Quotes

103 Aristotle Onassis Quotes (Onassis Quotes)

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Behind every millionaire hides a frenzied borrower.
Aristotle Onassis

To my mind, the world is just too small. I don’t need a university degree. One day what I do will astonish you!
Aristotle Onassis

The rules are… there are no rules.
Aristotle Onassis

You usually find that if you make things comfortable for people they like you.
Aristotle Onassis

Mr [Paul] Getty is in a rich man’s business. He produces oil and carries it. I am in a poor man’s business. All I do is carry it.
Aristotle Onassis

The crisis is all part of the game.
Aristotle Onassis

My mother died when I was six. If she had lived, I might not have worked as hard as I have done.
Aristotle Onassis

[On Noah being successful in the shipping business.] But that damn fellow had a monopoly.
Aristotle Onassis

The secret of business is to know something that nobody else does.
Aristotle Onassis

If women didn’t exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning.
Aristotle Onassis



[On growing his shipping business] It is my rule in business, to be the buyer, never the seller.
Aristotle Onassis

I don’t like to lose.
Aristotle Onassis

I made one great mistake. I never thought that in our world emotions could override all business reason.
Aristotle Onassis

If you’re short, take a loan. Never ask for a small amount. Ask for what you need, and always pay it back, the sooner the better.
Aristotle Onassis

Take care of your body. Be as good to it as possible. Don’t worry about incidents. Look at me – there’s nothing of the Greek God about my physique. But I didn’t waste any time crying about the unpleasant aspects of my person. And remember that things are only as ugly as you believe they are.
Aristotle Onassis

You will usually discover that if you make things easier for people, you gain their sympathy.
Aristotle Onassis

Do enough exercise and keep yourself in shape. Practicing basic yoga is recommended, both for the body and the mind. If you can do Judo for an hour or two a week, you can get rid of all your complexes.
Aristotle Onassis

Wait for the night to come, and don’t celebrate until your thinking is done. Then enjoy a good meal in the company of friends, and try to avoid talking business at the table.
Aristotle Onassis

After a certain point, money is meaningless. It ceases to be the goal. The game is what counts.
Aristotle Onassis

The secret of business is to be the only one in possession of certain information.
Aristotle Onassis



Eat moderately; when you have something urgent to take care of, avoid rich foods and wine. Spending hours at the table, while your mind is wrapped up in work, that has to be done, is still one of the best ways to shorten your existence.
Aristotle Onassis

To be successful, keep looking tanned, live in an elegant building (even if you’re in the cellar), be seen in smart restaurants (even if you nurse one drink) and if you borrow, borrow big.
Aristotle Onassis

If an individual is mediocre today, he can get away with it. If he’s outstandingly successful, he becomes suspect.
Aristotle Onassis

Outstanding individualism aggravates and disturbs the rest of society.
Aristotle Onassis

[On Stavros Niarchos] In business we cut each others’ throats, but now and then we sit around the same table and behave – for the sake of the ladies.
Aristotle Onassis

[On refusing to wear a coat] Since I am known as a ‘rich’ person, I feel I have to tip at least five dollars each time I check my coat.
Aristotle Onassis

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.
Aristotle Onassis

The two elements of success are to rise early and always have a tan.
Aristotle Onassis

Be rich or be an enemy of the rich. I understand both. But never envy the rich and try to please them.
Aristotle Onassis

Do you think I am going to hang around this piddling town? For me, the whole world is small. I don’t need any diploma. You will marvel one day at what I shall do.
Aristotle Onassis



People forget quickly. Only a few weeks earlier they may have been on the verge of death. Then comes safety and the grumbles and complaints begin – over all sorts of trivialities.
Aristotle Onassis

[On leaving his telephone job in May 1925] Now I have an idea.
Aristotle Onassis

[An early business selling tobacco and cigars] Wrap the cigars up in cellophane.
Aristotle Onassis

[On a ‘sordid action’ which some businessmen began to use against their competition] A man would go into a tobacconist, buy a pack of cigarettes, and once out of the shop inject a chemical into the pack with a hypodermic syringe. He would then return and explain, ‘I made a mistake, this is not the brand I wanted. Can I please exchange it.’ The hole would be very small, invisible to the human eye. The chemical gave the tobacco an abominable taste. It would spread through the whole pack. There were very few brands of cigarettes in Buenos Aires, so it was quite easy to disgust the buyers of these well-respected products and they would turn to you, who sold superior tobacco with that incomparable taste.
Aristotle Onassis

I don’t like small-town life.
Aristotle Onassis

[On the Greek Minister for foreign affairs reluctantly meeting with him at the bequest of the Greek Prime Minister] I hope that if I have to see you again you will be kind enough to pay more attention to my proposition. I thought you were a busy man, but I now see that you are busy only with cleaning your fingernails. You are more concerned with your hands than with the export trade of your country! [After which the Greek Minister changed his mind and more meaningful progress took place.]
Aristotle Onassis

[On the shipping business] I must get into this business.
Aristotle Onassis

[On introducing himself to a tall Norwegian blonde in 1934] Aristotle Socrates Onassis, a Greek shipowner.
Aristotle Onassis

Let me have some freedom first.
Aristotle Onassis

[On the plight of Oil companies who desperately needed the growth of independent tanker fleets] Any Wall Street executive who throughout the pre-Christmas rainy and snowy days would be only too glad to play the philanthropist with the cab drivers. All he prays is to get the cab.
Aristotle Onassis



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