Quotes About Success

John D. Rockefeller was not only self-made but self-invented and already had unyielding faith in his own judgment.

Rockefeller was now self-supporting and entirely free of his father

Where Bill had squandered his considerable talents, John had succeeded on a scale that made Bill look cheap and tawdry.

the leading men would receive no salary but would profit solely from the appreciation of their shares and rising dividends—which Rockefeller thought a more potent stimulus to work.

Like Rockefeller, he advocated self-discipline and deferred gratification.

He saw that money could bring majesty in the moral as well as secular sphere, which excited him more than fancy estates or clothes.

This was nicely illustrated by an anecdote.

Right on the eve of Tidewater's success, Rockefeller decided that he might recoup in the political arena what he was on the verge of losing in the economic sphere.

If only Rockefeller had played fair, Emery insisted, he would have ended up the more powerful oilman.

Unable to compromise on business principles, Rockefeller chose to jeopardize family relations instead.

Indeed, had he not possessed some charm, or at least cordiality, he could never have accomplished so much in the business world.

once John D. Rockefeller, Sr., set his mind to something, he brought awesome powers of concentration to bear.

Pierpont began to emerge from his father's shadow and take charge of major deals.

For all his success in bottling up pipeline bills, Rockefeller couldn't scotch the Tidewater.

if he failed to reach that level, Rockefeller would make up the difference.

I had planned to write the great American novel, having the Standard Oil Company as a backbone!

Hamilton's crowded years as treasury secretary scarcely exhaust the epic story of his short life, which was stuffed with high drama. From his illegitimate birth on Nevis to his bloody downfall in Weehawken, Hamilton's life was so tumultuous that only an audacious novelist could have dreamed it up. He embodied an enduring archetype: the obscure immigrant who comes to America, re-creates himself, and succeeds despite a lack of proper birth and breeding.

To mark their new financial status

Gates was always mystified by Morgan's success.

The Rockefellers could be playful on occasion.

Rockefeller and Charles clashed repeatedly over this question.

He had prevailed in almost every major program he had sponsored—whether the bank, assumption, funding the public debt, the tax system, the Customs Service, or the Coast Guard—despite years of complaints and bitter smears.

Many thought he was being retained because his name was Rockefeller

Rockefeller attributed much of his success to his quick head for figures.