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

Meaning of the quote

The quote means that if you want to be successful, you need to start your day early, work hard throughout the day, and try to find a way to make a lot of money quickly, like by discovering oil. The key is to put in a lot of effort and be persistent in your pursuit of success.

About Paul Getty

J. Paul Getty was an incredibly wealthy American-British petroleum magnate who founded the Getty Oil Company. He was considered one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, with an estimated net worth of over $25 billion in today’s money. He was an avid art collector, and his collection formed the basis of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

More about the author

More quotes from Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

During the 1950s, Aristotle Onassis and I formed what grew to be a close friendship and association in several business ventures.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

My yachts were, I suppose, outstanding status symbols.

Paul Getty

Five wives can’t all be wrong.

Paul Getty

How does one measure the success of a museum?

Paul Getty

I am – and have always been – a Methodist.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

My wealth is not a subject I relish discussing.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

I was 37 when my father died-and I no longer had any freedom of choice over what I would do with the rest of my life.

Paul Getty

The beauty one can find in art is one of the pitifully few real and lasting products of human endeavor.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

My love of fine art increased – the more of it I saw, the more of it I wanted to see.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

I can afford to say what I wish.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

Nostalgia often leads to idle speculation.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

You cannot bring about prosperity without discouraging thrift.

Paul Getty

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

Paul Getty

I have absolutely no intention of marrying Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Paul Getty