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Success Quote by Paul Getty

"I have always enjoyed the company of women and have formed deep and long-lasting friendships with many of them"

About this Quote

There is a practiced smoothness to Paul Getty's line, the kind that reads less like a confession of character than a preemptive character reference. "Enjoyed the company of women" is antique, clubby phrasing: it keeps desire safely in the realm of manners, turning gender into ambience and pleasure into good taste. Then the sentence pivots to "deep and long-lasting friendships", a moral upgrade that borrows the language of loyalty and intimacy without admitting dependence, vulnerability, or anything that might sound messy. It's a reputational two-step: charm first, virtue second.

Coming from a businessman with a public profile, the intent is as much defensive as celebratory. Getty isn't naming women, relationships, or stakes; he's establishing a posture. In an era when powerful men were routinely scrutinized for how they used access, money, and status, "friendship" becomes a strategic framing device. It offers a flattering counter-narrative to the caricature of the cold tycoon: he wasn't just transactional, he was emotionally literate; he didn't exploit, he connected.

The subtext is that women here are also witnesses. "Many of them" implies a chorus of potential endorsers, a social alibi baked into the syntax. The line asks to be read as evidence of decency while staying carefully nonspecific - a hallmark of elite self-mythmaking. It works because it's plausible, benign, and just vague enough to be untestable, letting warmth substitute for accountability.

Quote Details

TopicFriendship
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Getty, Paul. (2026, January 17). I have always enjoyed the company of women and have formed deep and long-lasting friendships with many of them. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-always-enjoyed-the-company-of-women-and-80110/

Chicago Style
Getty, Paul. "I have always enjoyed the company of women and have formed deep and long-lasting friendships with many of them." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-always-enjoyed-the-company-of-women-and-80110/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I have always enjoyed the company of women and have formed deep and long-lasting friendships with many of them." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-always-enjoyed-the-company-of-women-and-80110/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Paul Add to List
Paul Getty on Lasting Friendships with Women
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About the Author

Paul Getty

Paul Getty (September 7, 1932 - April 17, 2003) was a Businessman from USA.

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