Kenneth Langone

“Contrary to what you might assume, I didn't start with any advantages and neither did most of the successful people I know. I am the grandson of immigrants who came to this country seeking basic economic and personal liberty.”

“America is a powerful country. America is a great country. We have enormous resiliency. Any time we have had our back to the wall, we have come out a winner.”

“When then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued me in 2003 over my stewardship as a director of the New York Stock Exchange, the NYSE's legal expenses were more than $100 million, which made it perhaps the priciest litigation in the state's history.”

“My own feeling on the consumer is that he - he or she looks at what it costs them to pay their bills every month as opposed to how much debt they have.”

“A million dollars in the presidential election is a spit in the ocean. It's not a lot of money.”

“Genes don't mean necessarily that you have got a certain strand of gene that makes you particularly acceptable as a public official.”

“I have invested in companies. I have worked in companies. We have built companies; we have created jobs.”

“I consider myself a significant supporter of any candidate I work for, and I am certainly generous, I think, with my own funds.”

“We took the position we wanted our people to be better than minimum wage, so we're going to pay better than minimum wage, and we still do that.”

“Nothing so enchants attorneys general, their eyes generally fixed on higher public office, as slinging accusations against successful financial executives. Preening press conferences and fawning media coverage are virtually guaranteed, whether or not the charges have substance.”

“I have been in Wall Street all of my life. I love it. It has been good to me. I know many wonderful, decent, honorable, ethical, hard-working people that were in Wall Street with me.”

“The biggest single challenge to America and our future is income inequality. We've got to fix it.”

“We ought to look at Social Security. We ought to ask ourselves the question, is there inherently something wrong with Social Security that a man like me is eligible for Social Security? There's something wrong with the system.”

“You can have a phenomenal technology with bad people; you're not gonna have much success. You can have mediocre technology with great people; they'll figure out a way to make a buck.”

“I'm a stockholder. I own a lot of stocks.”

“People can't live on $7.50 an hour.”

“I learned playing poker that you never count your winnings because that's when you start to lose.”

“I don't know whether other people should or shouldn't pay taxes. I know I can, and I am willing, to pay more taxes. I know I should not get Social Security. I don't need it.”

“A lawsuit with no legal precedent, seeking no damages, from no jury, in the name of stopping something that isn't happening? Only in New York.”

“Home Depot has never hired one human being for minimum wage, not one. We have always paid a premium over minimum wage.”