Carlos Slim Quotes & Sayings

Well, when I was very young, maybe 12 years, I began to make investments. — Carlos Slim

How can you be on top of the things you do? I think when you are involved in a business, first of all you need to know the business. After that you know the business, you can - the numbers tell you what is happening. You can read with the numbers. — Carlos Slim

You cannot have people in your organization who are pessimists. They take you to mediocrity. — Carlos Slim

My parents weren't artistic, but I was always surrounded by beautiful things. And Mexico is a country which has experienced thousands of years of art and culture. — Carlos Slim

Low interest rates are a big opportunity for investment. But the issue is that this money should go to the real economy, not the financial economy. — Carlos Slim

Choose the right employees and then set them loose. — Carlos Slim

You cannot make thousands of universities or hundreds of thousands of professors, but with technology and the Internet you can have great courses and make a digital university. — Carlos Slim

The artistic part of us all - I think that the easiest way to appreciate this - is through architecture. Architecture is very impressive; the beauty of buildings, temples. — Carlos Slim

I don't have business with any politicians. — Carlos Slim

If you are in business, you are not enjoying. You are working. — Carlos Slim

I buy companies for strategic reasons and operate them. — Carlos Slim

It's a society of knowledge and experience. You have better experience and knowledge when you are 60, 65 and 70. — Carlos Slim

When you live for others' opinions, you are dead. — Carlos Slim

If Wal-Mart invests a billion dollars and others invest $100 million, Wal-Mart is going to grow more. — Carlos Slim

First I opened a check account. I looked at the - I looked that there was nothing of yield. So I bought some bonds. It was a bond. When I bought this bond, it was duplicated in 10 years. I think it was 10 percent. — Carlos Slim

It's important to give a better country to your children, but it is more important to give better children to your country. — Carlos Slim

No, my father passed away when I was 13 years old. I was very young. — Carlos Slim

We really think highly of the executives at SBC. And Microsoft is one of the great companies of the 21st century. It is in all of our best interests to work together. In this new wave of technology, you can't do it all yourself; you have to form alliances. — Carlos Slim

I studied engineering in the national university, the Universidad Autonoma, in San Ildefonso. — Carlos Slim

Competition makes you better, always, always makes you better, even if the competitor wins. — Carlos Slim

At 25, I made many companies. I was thinking more like a businessman or entrepreneur than a CEO. I created many companies, small companies, medium companies. I tried to be involved in many kinds of activities, in finance, in real estate, in mining. — Carlos Slim

I still have my laptop but I haven't used it. I'm a paper man, not electronic. — Carlos Slim

Money is not a goal. The goal is to make companies grow, develop, be competitive, be in different areas, be efficient to have a great human team inside the company. — Carlos Slim

It is not important NOT to make mistakes, but the mistakes to be small — Carlos Slim

Most people try to make a better world for our children when what they should be doing is making better children for our world. — Carlos Slim

When there is a crisis, that's when some are interested in getting out and that's when we are interested in getting in. — Carlos Slim

The key is the Internet. The United States is by far the most advanced country in this new digital culture, so we have to be there. The Internet is the heart of this new civilization, and telecommunications are the nervous system, or circulatory system. — Carlos Slim

Mistakes are normal and human. Make them small, accept them, correct them, and forget them. — Carlos Slim

I love baseball. And American Football, too. But not rugby. — Carlos Slim

I've always said that the better off you are, the more responsibility you have for helping others. Just as I think it's important to run companies well, with a close eye to the bottom line, I think you have to use your entrepreneurial experience to make corporate philanthropy effective. — Carlos Slim

The truth is, you leave this world with nothing. What you are is a temporary administrator, and you must administer well ... the wealth in your care, and generate more. The surplus can be used to do many things for people. — Carlos Slim

Profitability is coming from productivity, efficiency, management, austerity, and the way to manage the business. — Carlos Slim

In high school, I loved history. I also loved cosmography, algebra. Mexico is so rich in culture and history, and I have always enjoyed that. — Carlos Slim

Technology is going to transform people's lives and society everywhere in the world. I spend most of my time studying new technologies. My main task is to understand what's going on and try to see where we can fit in. — Carlos Slim

Focus on essentials and try not to get distracted and bogged down by things that don't add value to the bottom line. — Carlos Slim

Live the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the future be an incentive. Each person forges his or her own destiny. — Carlos Slim

Poverty isn't solved with donations. — Carlos Slim

I am convinced that all this poverty in Mexico and in Latin America, like it's happening in China is the opportunity to grow. It's an opportunity for investment; it's an economic activity and to take out poverty is the best investment any person or a person can do in any place. — Carlos Slim

Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets ... any sound investment will eventually pay off. — Carlos Slim

With three work days a week, we would have more time to relax; for quality of life, — Carlos Slim

Staying occupied displaces preoccupation and problems, and when we face our problems, they disappear. — Carlos Slim

Our philosophy is you need to give nonprofit money for health, nutrition, education, culture, and sports. — Carlos Slim

We think that in Mexico, online trading of shares and financial instruments is not going to be as important as it is in the U.S. On days that there is a banking holiday in the U.S., you hardly see any movement here on the stock exchange. — Carlos Slim

When we decide to do something, we do it quickly. — Carlos Slim

It's not a question of arriving and putting in a whole new administration, but instead, arriving and "compacting" things as much as possible, reducing management layers. We want as few management layers as possible, so that executives are very close to the operations. We also don't believe in having big corporate infrastructures. — Carlos Slim

The year 1983 was crazy. People wanted to sell not only their investments ... but also their companies. — Carlos Slim

Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves. — Carlos Slim

Firm and patient optimism always yields its rewards. — Carlos Slim

I think that anything that has privileges have responsibility and all people that is clear about their responsibility has compromise. — Carlos Slim

You don't need to raise taxes on rich people, because they create capitalization and investment. But you need to tax speculation - meaning capital gains. — Carlos Slim

You cannot live without doing something. — Carlos Slim

You have to have an international reference of competition. You have to go beyond your home. — Carlos Slim

CompUSA was a bad decision. We stayed too much with CompUSA, and we stayed too short with Apple. — Carlos Slim

All businesses make mistakes. The trick is to avoid large ones. — Carlos Slim

There are people who are good for letters and others that are good for numbers. — Carlos Slim

I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the bricks are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important. — Carlos Slim

Anyone who is not investing now is missing a tremendous opportunity. — Carlos Slim

You should have more time for you during all of your life - not when you're 65 and retired. — Carlos Slim

When we face our problems, they disappear. So learn from failure and let success be the silent incentive. — Carlos Slim

All times are good time for those who know how to work and have the tools to do so. — Carlos Slim

Building a business and becoming a billionaire is it's not championship. It's the competence; the competence in your sector with other companies not looking to have some kind of records in this issue. — Carlos Slim

You want to have a toy and another toy, and that's not maturity. The biggest things in life are not materials. — Carlos Slim

You need to support human development and human capital as much as possible. And we've had 25 years of programs, great programs. We supported 125,000 surgeries. We fund 15,000 scholarships every year for college and higher education. We gave bicycles for rural areas. We gave laptops. — Carlos Slim

My mother born in Mexico, but was Lebanese in origin. She born 1902 the same year my father arrived to Mexico when he was 14 years old. — Carlos Slim

Any personal crisis - you have to use it to get stronger. — Carlos Slim

We don't take anything when we pass away, and we need to do with the sense of responsibility. — Carlos Slim