John Rockefeller Quotes

180 John Rockefeller Quotes

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There is not enough money for the work of human uplift and that there never can be. How vitally important… therefore, that the expenditure should go as far as possible and be used with the greatest intelligence!
John Rockefeller

Waste is a dissipation of power.
John Rockefeller

Every right-minded man has a philosophy of life, whether he knows it or not.
John Rockefeller

One’s ideal should be to use one’s means, both in one’s investments and in benefactions, for the advancement of civilization.
John Rockefeller

[On charity] We have sought, so far as we could, to make investments in such a way as will tend to multiply, to cheapen, and to diffuse as universally as possible the comforts of life.
John Rockefeller

Nor do we find in any of the schemes of socialism a promise that wealth would be more wisely administered for the general good.
John Rockefeller

An individual institution of learning can have only a narrow sphere. It can reach only a limited number of people. But every new fact discovered, every widening of the boundaries of human knowledge by research, becomes universally known to all institutions of learning, and becomes a benefaction at once to the whole race.
John Rockefeller

As my father taught me, so I have tried to teach my children.
John Rockefeller

I rejoice, as everybody must, in Mr [Andrew] Carnegie’s enthusiasm for using his wealth for the benefit of his less fortunate fellows and I think his devotion to his adopted land’s welfare has set a striking example for all time.
John Rockefeller

At least the same energy and thought should be expended in the proper and effective use of money when acquired as was exerted in the earning of it.
John Rockefeller



Ignorance is the source of a large part of the poverty and a vast amount of the crime in the world – hence the need of education.
John Rockefeller

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

It is not personal interviews and impassioned appeals, but sound and justifying worth, that should attract and secure the funds of philanthropy.
John Rockefeller

Let us be as careful with the money we would spend for the benefit of others as if we were laying it aside for our own family’s future use.
John Rockefeller

If the people can be educated to help themselves, we strike at the root of many of the evils of the world.
John Rockefeller

If we can help people to help themselves, then there is a permanent blessing conferred.
John Rockefeller

One often hears the men of this new generation say that they do not have the chances that their fathers and grandfathers had. How little they know of the disadvantages from which we suffered!
John Rockefeller

As our successes began to come, I seldom put my head upon the pillow at night without speaking a few words to myself in this wise: ‘Now a little success, soon you will fall down, soon you will be overthrown. Because you have got a start, you think you are quite a merchant; look out, or you will lose your head – go steady.’ These intimate conversations with myself, I am sure, had a great influence on my life.
John Rockefeller

It is easy to do harm in giving money.
John Rockefeller

BONUS: [John D Rockefeller Jr] I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master. 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 believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs. I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order. I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character-not wealth or power or position-is of supreme worth. I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free. I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will. I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.
John Rockefeller



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