Li Lu

“At various stages in my life, I could have stopped, or took the long rest. For some reason, my heart told me otherwise. I just kept going. Half of the time, I wasn't sure where I was heading. The other half, I was probably taking the wrong turns. No matter.”

“To us, anyone who opposes dictatorship is our friend. Those who support it, our enemy.”

“Without a free man, there is no free market. That's called exploitation.”

“The whole thing is, really, money makes money. That's the whole thing about capitalism. Without the capital, there is no -ism.”

“I was a college student in 1989 when I participated in the demonstration at Tiananmen Square. I was one of the organizers.”

“I was born and grew up in China during the 1960s.”

“I was born in April of 1966, on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Soon after, my parents and grandparents all lost personal freedom simply for being intellectuals. So I spent most of my childhood rotating between adopted families of peasants and coalminers.”

“Rock and roll was a revelation for me.”

“I grew up in Communist China and never had much money to my name, and then, all of a sudden, I had giant student loans.”

“Tiananmen did not fail.”

“I think we Chinese are just as capable, as diligent, as hardworking, as peace-loving, and as creative as people everywhere.”

“In my 40s, the two cultures finally came to peace with one other inside me, and I have come to identify myself as both 100% Chinese and 100% American simultaneously.”

“Everyone has blind spots, and even the brightest people are no exceptions.”

“Politically, China suppresses its people, but because the government allows some freedom in economic matters, business has become the ultimate expression of individuality.”

“For the vast majority of mankind's history, economic activity consisted of finding energy and using energy.”

“You can't imagine a free market coupled with a dictatorship.”

“The financial crisis of 2008-09 was in large part the result of the so-called 'success' of people who did not understand their fiduciary duty. This kind of 'success' is extremely harmful to all of society.”

“I graduated from Columbia University in 1996 and founded my investment company in 1997, thus starting my professional investment career.”

“I have three lovely children. They are beautiful, talented, and kind-hearted. I'm most proud of them. I love them so much that I will never want to burden them with a large amount of inherited wealth.”

“With free market and free man, if you remove one of them, it is not called capitalism in my dictionary.”