I'm glad I wrote the book to show what I found out about the [ Standard Oil Company]. I'm glad many people read my book and found out the truth.

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week.

Success comes from keeping the ears open and the mouth closed

I was early taught to work as well as play. My life has been one long, happy holiday; Full of work and full of play- I dropped the worry on the way- And God was good to me everyday.

I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

I would rather hire a man with enthusiasm, than a man who knows everything.

Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

Singleness of purpose is one of the chief essentials for success in life, no matter what may be one's aim.

The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.

Hell had frozen over and I was lost in its endless labyrinth.

A short story is a different thing altogether – a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.

Reading books is a way for you to communicate with and learn from the best thinkers that are writing today and that have ever lived.

I do care about real life. It's just not as interesting as what's in my books.

It's easy when you grow up in fear to act out of fear. I don't want to embrace that fear; I prefer to be kind.

If your mother still drives you to school, you are not a gangster, pull your pants up!

Sit around the bars, talked to people, ate in the restaurants, and chatted with the old ladies on the street. Fishermen are pretty much that way.

Sometimes I think fiction exists to model the way God might think of us, if God had the time and inclination to do so.

Dreams shape the world

Just the type of music that was around at the same time as I was writing. Some of it was wicked, definitely. But there was just one direction which I thought could be pushed that no one was pushing.