Bruce Rauner

“When I was young, I had minimum wage jobs as a busboy, flipping burgers and parking cars.”

“I tend to think that free-market conservative principles are the best ones for the CEO of a state.”

“I am one of the baddest enemies anybody can have.”

“Our government workers should be treated fairly and appropriately. They should have a decent retirement, but not a gold-plated system where they can retire multimillionaires in their 50s.”

“Let's put Illinois back on the road to prosperity.”

“We've talked through the fact that our family will be attacked. Our family will be dragged through the mud. My businesses that I've helped build and create will be attacked and dragged through the mud. That's politics. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it or thinking about it.”

“I've got to pick my fights at the right time.”

“I'm a business guy. I'm not a politician.”

“The tax money belongs to the taxpayers. It doesn't belong to the bureaucracy. And government is not a welfare system.”

“Voters want conflicting things. They want a lot of government spending, but they don't want higher taxes.”

“Government employees deserve to be treated fairly, but they do not deserve a significantly better deal than average Illinoisans get in their own jobs.”

“Crisis creates opportunity.”

“I don't have a Rolls. I don't have a jet. That's not me.”

“I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage.”

“For many young people, the minimum wage is a stepping stone to higher employment levels.”

“Success is all about persistence and doing the right thing for the long term.”

“Your average person in Illinois doesn't really even know what workers' comp is. The average person doesn't know really what's going on in the pension system. They know their taxes are too high; they know we've got a deficit. But getting that message out and helping the people of Illinois really understand what's going on, that's hard.”

“Money's important, but it isn't a motivator for me.”

“Government pensions are among the largest cost drivers for state and local governments.”

“I'm very thoughtful and disciplined with my money.”