John Paul Getty Quotes
120 John Paul Getty Quotes
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Anyone who has attained success is regularly asked the same question by people he or she meets: ‘How can I, or anyone else, do it too?’ When I tell them how I started out creating the base for my own business, as a drilling operator four decades ago, they usually reply: ‘But you were lucky, you started your business at a time when it was still possible to make millions, you couldn’t do it gain today. Nobody could.’
John Paul Getty
I cannot help but be perplexed by this negative, and I think erroneous attitude, proffered by otherwise intelligent people. Assuredly, there exists a mass of facts which prove that young, dynamic, imaginative and hustling people have more opportunity to attain wealth and success today than ever before in our history. Innumerable young businessmen, aware and aggressive, have shown this to be true over the last few years by making a fortune in a variety of ways.
John Paul Getty
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m in no way saying that we are born businessmen instead of becoming businessmen. I would be the last person in the world to propose such a theory, because my own example and my experience indicate that the contrary is probably true. From all the evidence, I was in no way a born businessman.
John Paul Getty
A doctor declares that many directors complain of ulcers don’t really have them. Suffering from ulcers has become a status symbol. There are certain types of executives who would rather die than admit they have no stomach pains. That would mean that there’re just like everybody else!
John Paul Getty
I can have a good laugh in private, when I hear a 28 or 30 year old executive who works 48 hours a week at most – minus the time he spend on lunch and golf – whimpering because he’s overworked or that he’s under terrible pressure.
John Paul Getty
The real giants and geniuses of American business normally work 16 to 18 hours a day – often 7 days a week – and rarely take long vacations. As a result, most of them live very long lives.
John Paul Getty
I would like to convince young businesspeople that a magic formula which is infallible and leads to sure success in business does not exist… that there is no automatic set of rules that will make a person a millionaire.
John Paul Getty
I have no complex about wealth. I have worked hard for my money, producing things people need. I believe that the able industrial leader who creates wealth and employment is more worthy of historical notice than politicians and soldiers.
John Paul Getty
If you can count your money you aren’t rich.
John Paul Getty
Going to work for a large company is like getting on a train. Are you going sixty miles an hour or is the train going sixty miles an hour and you’re just sitting still?
John Paul Getty
‘Richness’ is at least as much a matter of character, of philosophy, outlook and attitude, as it is about money.
John Paul Getty
Businessmen can achieve notable success by discerning the possibility of things which others consider impossible.
John Paul Getty
Oil is like a wild animal. Whoever captures it has it.
John Paul Getty
[On being asked if it was true that he was worth over a billion dollars] Yes, I suppose it’s true but a billion dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to.
John Paul Getty
It’s rude and inconsiderate to overtip. It only makes it more difficult – and embarrassing – for people who are not as rich as I am.
John Paul Getty
Getting results through people is a skill that cannot be learned in the classroom.
John Paul Getty
The form of charity I know is the art of meeting a payroll.
John Paul Getty
To be seriously rich means that one no longer counts money.
John Paul Getty
I find all this money a considerable burden.
John Paul Getty
There are no tricks, no magical incantations or sorcerer’s potions which can make a business or a businessman an overnight success. Many qualities and much hard work are needed, as are innumerable other elements, because a businessman or woman can achieve and reach the millionaire level.
John Paul Getty
I had no capital of my own; my personal budget was $100 per month. My first year was anything but profitable…
John Paul Getty
My father neither provided the money for my private business ventures nor did he share in the profits I received from them.
John Paul Getty
The oil business was never an easy one. It has always entailed work – hard work – and it has always been fraught with innumerable financial pitfalls, especially in the early days.
John Paul Getty
[To his parents as a young man] ‘I’ve made my fortune – and I’m going to retire.’ Neither Mother nor Father was pleased with my decision. Both of them had worked very hard in their own youth.
John Paul Getty
I’m coming out of retirement at [age] 26!
John Paul Getty
I insisted there must be a way; I put the problem before the men in whom I had the greatest confidence, the members of one of my drilling crews. They listened to me, and their reaction was the same as mine. They considered the problem an irresistible challenge.
John Paul Getty
The obstacle provided by the limited right-of-way seemed insuperable, until my mind began to run over…
John Paul Getty
In 1929, the stock market crashed. The following year, my father [At age 75] suffered a stroke.
John Paul Getty
Many advised me to liquidate everything – to sell out not only my late father’s holding, but my own firms and interests as well. ‘The business situation can only get worse,’ they predicted. ‘The economy is going to disintegrate completely!’ I didn’t see things that way at all. I was convinced the nation’s economy was essentially sound – that though it might sag lower in the near future, it would eventually bounce back, healthier than ever. I thought it was the time to buy – not sell.
John Paul Getty
My friends and acquaintances – to say nothing of my competitors – felt my buying spree would prove a fatal mistake. Then, when I announced my intention to buy into one of the seven major oil companies operating in California, even those who had been my supporters in the past were inclined to believe I had taken leave of my senses.
John Paul Getty
Most of my wealth is invested in the businesses I own or control; I make no claims about the extent of my wealth and I really don’t care how rich I am.
John Paul Getty
The door to the American Millionaire’s Club is not locked. Contrary to popular modern belief, it is still quite possible for the successful individual to make his million – and more.
John Paul Getty
There will always be room for the man with energy and imagination, the man who can successfully implement new ideas into new products and services.
John Paul Getty
I consider myself neither prophet nor pundit, economist or political scientist. I speak simply as a practical, working businessman.
John Paul Getty
The man who complains loudest about excessive wages is the same one who spends fortunes on advertising and sales campaigns to sell his products to the millions.
John Paul Getty
Without competition, business would stagnate.
John Paul Getty
The American way of life remains the golden symbol of good living everywhere.
John Paul Getty
The secret of competing in the foreign market lies in realizing that no foreign country has yet truly mastered the technique of high quality mass production to the degree that we have.
John Paul Getty
Most firms could slash their ‘entertainment’ budgets by 50 percent or more without losing a single sale.
John Paul Getty
One generally does far more business in 15 minutes over a cup of coffee than he can possibly do in three hours over a six-martini lunch.
John Paul Getty
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