Sanford I. Weill

“I believe in giving back very strongly.”

“And when we used to play and fight in the streets in Brooklyn and I would get hurt or something, my mother would always come out and save me. So that sort of postponed the inevitable about getting a good beating, without having somebody to come and save you.”

“I wonder how many people would have thought at the end of World War II that the capitalist system would be one that was meeting the challenges and making things better for people as we approach the 21st century.”

“And it was where I learned how to play tennis and eventually became captain of the tennis team at the school and was on the Junior Davis Cup in New York City.”

“The more we can do to create a better society, that benefits more people, the better chance we have that our society will continue to grow and prosper.”

“Learn how to be a loser, because it's important to be a loser to be a winner.”

“I remember the mentoring experiences of some teachers that I had, like a second term home room teacher in public school that really was very helpful to me.”

“I'm not as involved in every little thing as I used to be.”

“My mother really didn't know a heck of a lot about business. She was a very good mother, that made sure we ate right and we had our cod liver oil, but didn't know a heck of a lot about what I did.”

“What turned me on then, and turns me on even today - and when the time comes from me to retire from management I think I'd still be interested in it - is that everything that happens in the world affects the price of securities.”

“I was sort of a sissy as a little kid.”

“My parents moved back to New York from Florida when I was in the ninth grade.”

“And I thought I'd always like some form of business, I didn't know what kind of business I'd go in.”

“Details create the big picture.”

“So it's the kind of business where you can't wait to get up in the morning and read the papers, or listen to what's on the news, and you know, how the world's going to change.”

“And learn that when you do make a mistake, you'll surface that mistake so you can get it corrected, rather than trying to hide it and bury it, and it becomes a much bigger mistake, and maybe a fatal mistake.”

“Our company is working with Disney to create a game for children between the ages of maybe four and 12, so we can teach them what the capitalist system is all about.”

“I think life is sort of like a competition, whether it's in sports, or it's achieving in school, or it's achieving good relationships with people. And competition is a little bit of what it's all about.”

“From the business point of view, always encouraging the people in our company to own stock in the company, and if we're going to build something great, to have a lot of people share in the benefits of that greatness.”

“I've been involved with Carnegie Hall for the last 13 years, and Chairman for the last six. I feel really good about what we've done growing our educational programs there, building a board that has made Carnegie Hall really a world-class institution.”