Every day should be a good day. People fool themselves that they'll be here forever.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
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.
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.
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.
Sometimes, success in life is knowing one's limitations.
Business is usually a team sport. There isn't one great person sitting there directing things. You can't run an effective business like that.
I grew up in a small town outside Philadelphia and went to the local high school, where I ran track all four years.
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.
Education around entrepreneurship should start early, at secondary level, and be very robust by college level.
I think people have to read more and learn more about what's going on internationally.
I always felt uncomfortable with real estate because buildings don't move, and neighborhoods change.
As long as you're excellent, things work out for you.
I have no first-strike capability. I never choose to go into battle first. But I won't back down.
Being reasonably direct about what you're doing, being comfortable, is the best way to do things.
Today, whenever I'm under pressure to make a decision on a transaction but I don't know what the right one is, I try desperately to postpone it. I'll insist on more information - on doing extra laps around the intellectual parking lot - before committing. I take the same approach with people, too.
There are no patents in finance.
There's usually room in the theme parks business for efficiencies on the cost side and new investment, which drives traffic.
Live life intensely - I've always believed in that.
In 2014, Blackstone was the most profitable money manager in the world. I did not anticipate that.
Paid leave is worth every penny.
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 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 language skill in the U.S. for the most part has been awful. Many Americans don't learn any foreign language.
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.
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.
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.
As you have more resources in life, it's your obligation to deploy those for the benefit of others.
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.
One of the rules I've learned is that struggling to try and think your way into making an investment is usually the best way to not have a great outcome.
We have limited time, and we have to maximize it.
For future geopolitical stability and global prosperity, we need to build a culture of greater trust and understanding between China, America and the rest of the world.
Dodd-Frank has disproportionately burdened community banks, despite their having no role in the financial crisis.
My biggest job really is to figure other people out. I need to understand what makes a person tick.
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.
My father was very bright. My mother had enormous drive. Put that together, and that's my gene pool.
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.
I love things that cost nothing that have great results.
If I get angry, it's obvious. I don't have to say much.
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.
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.
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.
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'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.
The library helps lower- and middle-income people - immigrants - get their shot at the American dream.
I'm not feeling undertaxed. Tax reform is an important issue. You have to have an inherent sense of fairness.
This country, of course, needs fundamental reform of our financial regulatory system, as I, and many other financial institution executives, have publicly advocated for a considerable period.
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.
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.
It's wonderful to learn about new cultures and to be able to travel easily to so many countries.
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.
