Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1919–90) was an American business leader and socialite. The owner-publisher of the Forbes magazine 1957–90, he was notorious for his opulent lifestyle and his self-glorification.
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Forbes inherited his wealth from his father, B. C. Forbes, who launched Malcolm at the Fairfield Times newspaper as owner and publisher only days after his matriculation from Princeton University.
After serving in the Army during World War II, Malcolm became a state senator in New Jersey 1951–58 and contested unsuccessfully for governor his 1957. When his father died in 1954, Malcolm Forbes became publisher and editor in chief of Forbes. Under his direction, the glossy business magazine flourished from a circulation of 100,000 to 720,000. He also founded the Nation’s Heritage magazine and a journal for art lovers called Egg.
A well-known collector, Forbes developed properties in California, Maine, and Fiji, and owned a château in Normandy, a mansion in London, an island in the South Seas, a palace in Tangier, Morocco, and collections of motorcycles, Peter Carl Fabergé imperial Easter eggs, and Oriental paintings. He set six world records in hot air ballooning.
Branded as a man who adored the spotlight, Forbes was well known for his extravagant lifestyle. He earned the nickname “the happiest millionaire.” On his last birthday, he incited controversy by giving a $2 million party, for which he flew some 1,000 guests to Tangier, Morocco. Not only that, he went out of his way to make sure that everyone who had not been invited knew what they had missed.
Forbes wrote More Than I Dreamed: A Lifetime of Collecting (1989.) A famous biography is Christopher Winans’s Malcolm Forbes: The Man Who Had Everything (1990.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Malcolm S. Forbes
Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Education
Being right half the time beats being half-right all the time.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Never hire someone who knows less than you do about what he’s hired to do.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Business
If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Criticism
Everybody has to be somebody to somebody to be anybody.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Service
If you expect nothing, you’re apt to be surprised. You’ll get it.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Expectation, Optimism, Health, Positive Attitudes
The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they most enjoy.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
All work and no play makes jack. With enough jack, Jack needn’t be a dull boy.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Money
Presence is more than just being there.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Romance, Perspective
No one’s a leader if there are no followers.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Leadership
Those who act as if they know more than their boss seldom do.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Knowledge
It’s always worthwhile to make others aware of their worth.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Failure is success if we learn from it.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Success, Adversity, Failure, Strength
You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Virtues, Judgment, Caring, Integrity, Character
Since we had nothing to do with our arrival and usually are not consulted about our departure, what makes so many of us think we’re entitled to so much while we’re here?
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Life
The hardest time to tell: when to stop.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Action
There is never enough time, unless you’re serving it.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Isn’t it fortunate how selective our recollections usually are.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Memory
When looking back, usually I’m more sorry for the things I didn’t do than for the things I shouldn’t have done.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Doing
One who never asks either knows everything or nothing.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Questions
Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always makes you less than you are.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Forgiveness, Anger
When the joy of the job’s gone, when it’s no fun trying anymore, quit before you’re fired.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Topics: Work
There’s no way to move without making waves.
—Malcolm S. Forbes
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
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- C. P. Scott British Journalist, Editor
- B. C. Forbes Scottish-born American Journalist
- Frederick Buechner American Presbyterian Clergyman
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- Isadora Duncan American Dancer
- Andy Warhol American Painter
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