Stephen A. Schwarzman

“I'm a consistent little person.”

“What I've found in being around political people is they're willing to negotiate their ideology somewhere around 5 percent. They believe that's really stepping out. And it's really hard to do business when you only move 5 percent from your ideology.”

“I chose to start Schwarzman Scholars because I saw the potential for the world to become focused and unhappy with China, in large part because of the populism that was growing throughout the world.”

“In the Catholic schools, they spend much less money than the public schools, and they get amazing results. Private schools spend much more money than the public schools, and they get remarkable results.”

“In 2014, Blackstone was the most profitable money manager in the world. I did not anticipate that.”

“Part of China's strategic planning is to make their universities among the top level of the world, and I think they understand you can't do that without the adoption of some of the principles of the great universities in the West; one of those is the ability to have free expression and discussion in the classroom.”

“Doing a me-too business, because it's you - the only person who cares about that is you. The market doesn't care if it's you. The market is pretty much being served. You better have something that the world doesn't have, because even then, you might screw it up through your own ineptitude and inexperience.”

“The library helps lower- and middle-income people - immigrants - get their shot at the American dream.”

“Public service is a core value for people of my generation.”

“It's important that we educate Americans about how hedge funds and private equity play completely different roles.”

“Washington, D.C., puts enormous burdens on people who, at the end of the day, are just humans.”

“The concept of fair value accounting is correct and useful, but the application during periods of crisis is problematic. It's another one of those unintended consequences of making a rule that's supposed to be good that turns out the other way.”

“I didn't get to be successful by letting people hurt Blackstone or me.”

“I was in an interdisciplinary major - which was a new thing then - which was psychology, sociology, anthropology, and biology, which is really sort of the study of the human being.”

“Always, always make good on what you say.”