8 Quotes From The World’s Most Dashing Auto Executive

Born as the heir to Fiat’s industrial empire—and with a princess for a mother—Giovanni “Gianni” Agnelli lived a life most can only dream of. But underneath accolades for his style, business savvy, and playboy lifestyle lurked an intelligent, sharp, honorable man with a deep love of Italy.

So if you’re going to learn from someone, make it advice from, “The Rake of the Riviera”, the incomparable Mr. Agnelli.

“Everything I’ve got, I’ve inherited. My grandfather did it all. I owe everything to the right of ownership and the right of inheritance; I’ve added the duty of responsibility to that.”

“I like the wind because you can’t buy it.”

“Oh, I’ve certainly never been short of pleasure. Do you know what real pleasure is? A creative act. A pleasure without creativity is dead boring.”

“You can do anything, but you can’t leave the family.”

“Everybody’s a playboy. Everybody tries to be one, some manage it, others don’t.”

“My whole life has consisted of betting on the future.”

”I like beautiful things that are well made. I even believe aesthetics are equivalent to ethics. Something that is beautiful is ethical, and unethical things aren’t beautiful—from tax dodging to doing things in an underhand way.”

“The chauffeur never drives. I always drive, it’s a habit of mine. Once, when people travelled by horse-drawn vehicles, they said, ‘There are those who prefer to sit on the box, and those who prefer to sit inside the carriage’. I prefer sitting on the box.”

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