Top 73 Quotes & Sayings by T. Boone Pickens

I'm focused on energy only. And I know what I'm talking about. And I don't want to be distracted on other things.

I don't think for a minute we went to Iraq for oil. It just so happened that it had oil. But I think we'll come out of the Iraqi situation with a call on their oil at market price.

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.

You can't invest in natural gas on a daily basis. It's too volatile. But if you think of natural gas as a long-term holding, then you push your profit horizon out. A long-term time horizon would be at least two years.

I never did anything dishonest.

I've got an opinion on everything.

If you can provide the funding and you get the leadership, you'll have a competitive team.

The cheapest natural gas in the world is in the United States.

Natural gas is better distributed than any other fuel in the United States. It's down every street and up every alley. There's a pipeline.

Try everything. Do everything. Nuclear. Biomass. Coal. Solar. You name it. I support them all.

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

Natural gas is a better transportation fuel than gasoline, so if that's the case, it's cheaper, it's cleaner and it's a domestic resource.

There's no question that tar sands in Canada are probably the largest source of oil available to the U.S. over a long period of time. There's as much oil in the tar sands probably as there is in Saudi Arabia. The problem is, there's a huge capital requirement to develop that.

I don't care whether you use natural gas, ethanol, the battery. You can use anything, just so it's American.

I don't like stock buybacks. I think if a company has the money to buy their stock back, then they should take that and increase the dividends. Send it back to the stockholder. Let them invest their money again from the dividends.

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 give the money where you want it.

I'm amused when Congress tries to place the blame on somebody but never themselves. I've never heard any of them ever say, 'I've made a mistake.' I do. I say I called it wrong. But they just try to find somebody to blame.

Fundamentals make the market.

In the history of America, we've never had an energy plan. We don't even realize the resources we have available to us.

It's important to understand that oil and renewables do different things. Wind and solar are for power generation, so they don't replace oil. About 70% of all oil produced is used for transportation fuel. Renewables are good projects, but they don't get us off of foreign oil.

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

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

As long as there's political uncertainty around the energy space, stock prices will come down.

I've always believed that it's important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.

I don't need any more money.

We're going to have shortages and prices are going to go up. Gasoline is going to be extremely tight for us.

I say, you work eight hours, and you sleep eight hours - be sure they're not the same eight hours.

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

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 do believe that oil production globally has peaked at 85 million barrels. And I've been very vocal about it. And what happens? The demand continues to rise. The only way you can possibly kill demand is with price. So the price of oil, gasoline, has to go up to kill the demand. Otherwise, keep the price down, the demand rises.

When you look at a commodities market you need hedgers and speculators. If you don't have one, you don't have a market. That's how it works.

If you don't have a refinery operating, it's hard to use oil that's available.

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

I've been married over 50 years of my life.

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

Big Oil is a club, and they'll do everything to keep me out.

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

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.

Never Googled myself. I use a computer for market quotes and news, but I've never Googled myself. But I have visited their headquarters.

There is no free market for oil.

Natural gas is the best transportation fuel. It's better than gasoline or diesel. It's cleaner, it's cheaper, and it's domestic. Natural gas is 97 percent domestic fuel, North America.

I fracked over 3,000 wells in my life and never had a problem with an aquifer.

I don't believe in a price on carbon, because the government is going to control it and they're going to fail.

I have always believed that it's important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.

The American people know something is wrong as far as energy is concerned. They don't think they are being told the truth.

I think I have more patience now than I did in the past.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.