Petroleum Quotes

“So this is what commodity corn can do to a cow: industrialize the miracle of nature that is a ruminant, taking this sunlight- and prairie grass-powered organism and turning it into the last thing we need: another fossil fuel machine. This one, however, is able to suffer. ”
― Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

“Control over the production and distribution of oil is the decisive factor in defining who rules whom in the Middle East.”
― Christopher Hitchens, The Quotable Hitchens from Alcohol to Zionism: The Very Best of Christopher Hitchens

“Strange, strange are the dynamics of oil and the ways of oilmen.”
― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

“In my opinion, if there is one extremely legitimate use for petroleum besides running wood chippers and front-end loaders to handle compost, it's making plastic for season extension. It parks many of the trucks [for cross-country produce transportation]. With the trucks parked, greenhouses, tall tunnels, and more seasonal, localized eating, can we feed ourselves? We still have to answer that burning question.”
― Joel Salatin, Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World

“Dad's oil dehydrator was a contained electrostatic field, one electrode down the center, the other the container's inner wall. Principal problem was finding a dielectric to separate the two. Refuse oil poured in came out as oil of the highest grade, dry chemicals, and drinking water. Petroleum Rectifying Company successfully prohibited its use.”
― John Cage, M: Writings '67–'72

“Gasoline-scented soap is a great idea that’s a terrible idea. Plus, if I made soap that smelled like petroleum, The US Military would invade my shower and kill me.”
― Jarod Kintz, There are Two Typos of People in This World: Those Who Can Edit and Those Who Can't

“The Saudis considered the petroleum under their soil a gift from God, but accessing its value laid within man’s capacity.”
― Ellen R. Wald, Saudi, Inc.

“Hay zonas pobladas y hay desiertos. Hay países industrializados y países en las más atrasadas etapas de la vida económica. Hay naciones que nadan en la fantasía de la riqueza petrolera y naciones cubiertas por la oscura sombra del hambre. Y hay la pavorosa alternativa entre el hormiguero despiadadamente desorganizado y el hormiguero despiadadamente organizado.”
― Arturo Uslar Pietri, El globo de colores

“Wealth of time is actually of more value than natural resources (petroleum, gold, diamond, gas etc.) and more valuable than human resources.”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Oil, they had discovered, could be used as a weapon. Suddenly, Saudi Arabia took on the position Texas itself had once had and became the swing oil producer for the great industrial nations of the world. The biggest transfer of wealth in human history was under way. Hundreds of billions of dollars in oil revenues poured into the Saudi Kingdom. The Saudis were drowning in petrodollars.”
― Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties