Top 60 Stephen A. Schwarzman Quotes

I’ve always been comfortable with people who run things, whether it was the principal of my high school or the president of the university.

You can’t grow unless your banking system is expanding and you are extending credit.

Preparing youth for employment requires training that is demand-driven to meet the needs of companies and ensure that young people are taught marketable skills.

What you find when you live in the United States, you live in the West, is that when somebody fails, it’s never their fault. They always like to blame somebody other than themselves for a failure.

I have a saying: There are no brave old people in finance. Because if you’re brave, you mostly get destroyed in your 30s and 40s. If you make it to your 50s and 60s and you’re still prospering, you have a very good sense of how to avoid problems and when to be conservative or aggressive with your investments.

Deals really have to do with the overlap of what one side wants and the other side wants, and it’s really just the discovery of where that overlap is and how you decide to get there.

Some of the people in finance touch enormous parts of the economy.

The language skill in the U.S. for the most part has been awful. Many Americans don’t learn any foreign language.

When society starts moving in a way that becomes very negative, whether it’s in the West or any other place, I’ve always found that it’s very useful to have people around who actually know what’s happening.

I’m a consistent little person.

There are no patents in finance.

I love houses. I’m not sure why.

I don’t control the political world.

We need sobriety, rationality, and civility in the discussions on the regulation of financial institutions so that the banks can return in a robust manner to their central role in funding the economy.

I’m concerned with China growing at double or triple the rate of the West, that there will be tensions. One needs to do something to start addressing misunderstandings and frustration.

I can’t micromanage what anybody pays or doesn’t pay. But the concept that half of the public isn’t involved with the income-tax system is somewhat odd and I’m not saying how much people should do, but we should all be part of the system.

The Schwarzman Scholars is a program that was designed with Tsinghua University. They asked me to do something in honor of their 100th anniversary.

In life, you’ll often find that having influence and providing sound advice is a good thing, even if it attracts criticism or requires some sacrifice.

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

Paid leave is worth every penny.

Ironically, when a bunch of very smart people are sitting around a table for hours trying to figure out whether they should do something, that tends to not necessarily lead to the best results.

Sleeping at night is not a specialty of entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur who is sleeping soundly, something bad is happening to that person; they just don’t know it’s happening yet.

I have no first-strike capability. I never choose to go into battle first. But I won‘t back down.

There’s usually room in the theme parks business for efficiencies on the cost side and new investment, which drives traffic.

As you have more resources in life, it’s your obligation to deploy those for the benefit of others.

After years of studying French in school, one of my professors said he’d really appreciate it if I didn’t take any more French.

My biggest job really is to figure other people out. I need to understand what makes a person tick.

Next to my mom, I’m actually a shrinking violet.

To the extent that I can add value and make my country a better place, that’s a good thing to do.

I’m not feeling undertaxed. Tax reform is an important issue. You have to have an inherent sense of fairness.

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 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.

I’ve lived through periods of illiquidity before. Asset prices come down. The economy slows or even goes into recession. Then the cycle re-starts. We buy at lower prices with less leverage.

I don’t feel like a wealthy person. Other people think of me as a wealthy person, but I don’t. I feel the same as when I was a fifth-year associate trying to make partner at Lehman Brothers. I haven‘t changed.

I like creating new things.

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.

If I get angry, it’s obvious. I don’t have to say much.

In the charitable world, I find myself giving to large projects that I think can make a large-scale impact.

Dodd-Frank has disproportionately burdened community banks, despite their having no role in the financial crisis.

I like being in warm weather. I find that relaxes me. I like being near water. I like sitting on a beach and sort of hearing the water, watching waves break, looking at the shimmering. I find that really relaxing.

I’ve learned that all investments have risk.

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

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.

China is an indomitable force, and they have a commitment for excellence.

I think people have to read more and learn more about what’s going on internationally.

Always, always make good on what you say.

Don’t go into something you actually don’t know much about, in the hopes that you’re going to get really financially successful and rewarded… even though people think you’re, like, terrific.

We need to be able to identify and support young people who demonstrate interest and aptitude in entrepreneurship and business creation and give them tools to follow this path throughout their educational experience.

I love picking people. I started Blackstone, and we had no people, and now we have with our portfolio companies about 750,000 people all over the world. Everybody who is at a senior level has ultimately been picked by me.

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

We have limited time, and we have to maximize it.

The biggest mistake I’ve seen people make with their careers is, when they’re good, after two or three years – and they happen to be smart – they announce that they’re going out to start their own firm.

I love things that cost nothing that have great results.

I’m doing my sit-ups and watching CNBC. Suddenly, somebody starts talking about me on television… The business has gone into a weird zone of visibility. For those of us who have done it for a long time, it’s strange.

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.

Inaccurate analysis produces faulty insights and bad decisions – which lead to losing a tremendous amount of money.

When you lose control of risk at a financial institution, you do a variety of unfortunate credit extensions or purchases – and all of a sudden, you’ve blown up your business.

We’re so overregulated as a country that we just crushed our productivity.

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

In a financial crisis, only the Fed, as the lender of last resort, might stand between our economy and financial catastrophe. We must leave the Fed with the flexibility to provide liquidity in order to stop a financial panic.