Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Owen D. Young (American Businessman)

Owen Daniel Young (1874–1962) was an American businessman, diplomat, and philanthropist. He is best remembered for his leadership at General Electric (GE) and his crucial involvement in international finance.

Born in Van Hornesville, New York, graduated from St. Lawrence University in 1896 and joined GE in 1899. He rose to become president in 1922 and subsequently chairman. At GE, Young strategically shifted the company’s focus towards manufacturing home appliances and was a strong advocate for rural electrification. His significant contributions also include playing a key role in the establishment of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA.) Young fostered improved industrial relations within GE through innovative initiatives such as employee stock plans. His leadership led GE to divest its utility holdings and strategically emphasize consumer goods, ultimately transforming it into a leading international enterprise and a household name.

Young’s diplomatic efforts were particularly significant in the development of the Young Plan (1929,) an international agreement that restructured Germany’s post-World War I reparations, contributing to the stabilization and recovery of the German economy.

Beyond his business and diplomatic achievements, Young was a dedicated philanthropist, supporting various educational and social welfare initiatives. Biographies of him are Josephine Young Case and Everett Needham Case’s Owen D. Young and American Enterprise (1982) and Ida M. Tarbell’s Owen D. Young: A new type of industrial leader (1932.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Owen D. Young

Unlearned men of books are like the eunuchs who are guardians of the beautiful.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Learning

The person of wisdom is the person of years.
—Owen D. Young

We wake up to find the whole world building competitive trade barriers, just as we found it a few years ago building competitive armaments. We are trying to reduce armaments to preserve the world’s solvency. We shall have to reduce competitive trade barriers to preserve the world’s sanity. As between the two, trade barriers are more destructive than armaments and more threatening to the peace of the world.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: War

It takes vision and courage to create; it takes faith and courage to prove.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Success, Courage, Bravery

The person who still blushes is not yet a degenerate.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Morality

The only way to get rid of responsibilities is to discharge them.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Responsibility

I resent at any time or any place the attitude that the safety of this country depends on any man holding his job. No man has achieved that strength, and this country has not deteriorated to that weakness.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Government, Politics

Capital which overreaches for profits; labor which overreaches for wages, or a public which overreaches for bargains will all destroy such other. There is no salvation for us on that road.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Achievements

Markets as well as mobs respond to human emotions; markets as well as mobs can be inflamed to their own destruction.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Business

The person who builds a character makes foes.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Enemies

What I am concerned about in this fast-moving world in a time of crises, both in foreign and domestic affairs, is not so much a program as a spirit of approach, not so much a mind as a heart. A program lives today and dies tomorrow. A mind, if it be open, may change with each new day, but the spirit and the heart are as unchanging as the tides.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Heart

We are not to judge thrift solely by the test of saving or spending. If one spends what he should prudently save, that certainly is to be deplored. But if one saves what he should prudently spend, that is not necessarily to be commended. A wise balance between the two is the desired end.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Thrift

Faith builds the bridge from this old world to the new.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Faith

In modern business it is not the crook who is to be feared most, it is the honest man who doesn’t know what he is doing.
—Owen D. Young
Topics: Business

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