T. Boone Pickens Quotes

A plan without action is not a plan. It's a speech.

A Fool with a Plan is better off than a Genius without a Plan!

When you are hunting elephants, don't get distracted chasing rabbits.

Be willing to make decisions. That's the most important quality in a good leader. Don't fall victim to what I call the 'ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome'. You must be willing to fire.

Work eight hours and sleep eight hours, and make sure that they are not the same eight hours.

Money is to be respected one of the worst things you can do is handle another person's money without respect for how hard it was to earn.

Work hard. Come early, stay late. That's the way leadership has to approach it.

Far too many executives have become more concerned with the four P's -- pay, perks, power and prestige -- rather than making profits for shareholders.

A fool with a plan can outsmart a genius with no plan.

Keep things informal. Talking is the natural way to do business. Writing is great for keeping records and putting down details, but talk generates ideas. Great things come from out luncheon meetings which consist of a sandwich, a cup of soup, and a good idea or two. No martinis.

The older I get, the more I see a straight path where I want to go. If you're going to hunt elephants, don't get off the trail for a rabbit.

It has become cheaper to look for oil on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange than in the ground.

A dollar is not worth as much as you think it is. Your honesty is worth much more.

When you blow away the foam, you get down to the real stuff.

I'm a Republican. I don't want to go to heaven and have to face my family up there and tell them I voted for a Democrat.

You want to compete, and you want to compete at the highest level.

I don't go cheap on anything, but I'm not a shopper. If I want something, I look at it, decide what it is, but it will usually be the best product. I've got a pair of loafers that I still wear that I got in 1957.

I was very fortunate in my gene mix. The gambling instincts I inherited from my father were matched by my mother's gift for analysis.

If you're on the right side of the issue, just keep driving until you hear glass breaking. Don't quit.

On a scale from 1-10, my ambition is probably 11 or 12.

Chief executives, who themselves own few shares of their companies, have no more feeling for the average stockholder than they do for baboons in Africa.

If somebody I don't like gets in the crosshairs, I pull the trigger. But I don't hunt for them.

I always saw myself as a large stockholder trying to make a difference. I wasn't raiding anybody.

To me, emails are a little bit frustrating. I think that the telephone is much preferred because you get the sound of the voice and the interest and everything else you can't see in an email.

I don't go looking for somewhere to spend my money. You can step on a tube of toothpaste for a week, if you have to. I spend what I need to and give it away.