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. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

Predictability can lead to failure. — T. Boone Pickens

A Fool with a Plan is better off than a Genius without a Plan! — T. Boone Pickens

Work hard. Come early, stay late. That’s the way leadership has to approach it. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

A fool with a plan can outsmart a genius with no plan. — T. Boone Pickens

When you blow away the foam, you get down to the real stuff. — T. Boone Pickens

Never Googled myself. I use a computer for market quotes and news, but I’ve never Googled myself. But I have visited their headquarters. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

You want to compete, and you want to compete at the highest level. — T. Boone Pickens

I think I have more patience now than I did in the past. — T. Boone Pickens

If you can provide the funding and you get the leadership, you’ll have a competitive team. — T. Boone Pickens

Far too many executives have become more concerned with the four P’s––pay, perks, power and prestige––rather than making profits for shareholders. — T. Boone Pickens

Work eight hours and sleep eight hours, and make sure that they are not the same eight hours. — T. Boone Pickens

I never did anything dishonest. — T. Boone Pickens

We’re going to have shortages and prices are going to go up. Gasoline is going to be extremely tight for us. — T. Boone Pickens

If you’re on the right side of the issue, just keep driving until you hear glass breaking. Don’t quit. — T. Boone Pickens

Don’t get the idea that I’ve turned green. My business is making money, and I think this is going to make a lot of money. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

I’ve been married over 50 years of my life. — T. Boone Pickens

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. — T. Boone Pickens

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

A dollar is not worth as much as you think it is. Your honesty is worth much more. — T. Boone Pickens

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

In the history of America, we’ve never had an energy plan. We don’t even realize the resources that we have available to us. — T. Boone Pickens

When you are hunting elephants, don’t get distracted chasing rabbits. — T. Boone Pickens

I don’t believe in a price on carbon, because the government is going to control it and they’re going to fail. — T. Boone Pickens

If somebody I don’t like gets in the crosshairs, I pull the trigger. But I don’t hunt for them. — T. Boone Pickens

I know what people say, that water’s a lot like air. Do you charge for air? Well, of course not. Well, you shouldn’t charge for water. Okay, watch what happens you won’t have any water — T. Boone Pickens

Try everything. Do everything. Nuclear. Biomass. Coal. Solar. You name it. I support them all. — T. Boone Pickens

On a scale from 1–10, my ambition is probably 11 or 12. — T. Boone Pickens

There is no free market for oil. — T. Boone Pickens

I’ve always believed that it’s important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure. — T. Boone Pickens

A plan without action is not a plan. It’s a speech. — T. Boone Pickens

The first billion is a helluva lot harder. — T. Boone Pickens

You give the money where you want it. — T. Boone Pickens

I always saw myself as a large stockholder trying to make a difference. I wasn’t raiding anybody. — T. Boone Pickens