J. Paul Getty

Governments, of course, can - and do - soak the rich.

Books, like proverbs, receive their chief value from the stamp and esteem of the ages through which they have passed.

My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil.

No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or 'get rich' in business by being a conformist.

My wealth is not a subject I relish discussing.

Five wives can't all be wrong.

I was brought up in an era when thrift was still considered a virtue.

Oil is like a wild animal. Whoever captures it has it.

The Roaring Twenties were the period of that Great American Prosperity which was built on shaky foundations.

Jack Dempsey and I became friends in the very early 1920s.

I've never been one to bet on the weather.

Control of a company does not carry with it the ability to control the price of its stock.

I can afford to say what I wish.

My yachts were, I suppose, outstanding status symbols.

How does one measure the success of a museum?

There are at least 50 cities in the world that would have liked to obtain the Getty Collection.

What I learned at Oxford has been used to great advantage throughout my business career.

To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business.

There are heads of royal families who control hereditary fortunes that defy comprehension.

I take pride in the creation of my wealth, in its existence and in the uses to which it has been and is being put.

The overwhelming majority of my rated wealth consists of investments in companies that produce goods and services.

Without the element of uncertainty, the bringing off of even, the greatest business triumph would be dull, routine, and eminently unsatisfying.

The rich are not born sceptical or cynical. They are made that way by events, circumstances.

Nationalized industries are notorious for their inability to operate at a profit.

I vehemently deny that I was born a cynic and a pessimist.

Rhetoric and dialectics can't change what I have learned from observation and experience.

I am - and have always been - a Methodist.

I have absolutely no intention of marrying Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

I am neither a homosexual nor a eunuch, nor have I ever taken any vows of chastity.

Nostalgia often leads to idle speculation.

You cannot bring about prosperity without discouraging thrift.

I buy when other people are selling.

You cannot further the Brotherhood of Man by encouraging class hatred.

I hate to be a failure. I hate and regret the failure of my marriages. I would gladly give all my millions for just one lasting marital success.

In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.

The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights.

I have always enjoyed the company of women and have formed deep and long-lasting friendships with many of them.

Whether we like it or not, men and women are not the same in nature, temperament, emotions and emotional responses.

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?

Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.

I have never been given to envy - save for the envy I feel toward those people who have the ability to make a marriage work and endure happily.

There are one hundred men seeking security to one able man who is willing to risk his fortune.

In Japan, I was immensely impressed by the politeness, industrious nature and conscientiousness of the Japanese people.

A hatred of failure has always been part of my nature.

If you can actually count your money, then you're not a rich man.

If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars.

The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.

A marriage contract to me is as binding as any in business, and I have always believed in sticking to an agreement.

Before marriage, many couples are very much like people rushing to catch an airplane; once aboard, they turn into passengers. They just sit there.

Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells.