Kenneth Lay Quotes & Sayings

The last thing I would have ever expected to happen to me in my life would be that, in fact, I would be accused of doing something wrong and maybe even something criminal. — Kenneth Lay

I always took my role as a leader, and certainly chairman and CEO of a major company very seriously as to our employees and trying to create opportunities for them and create opportunities where they could even, as I said many times, could realize their God-given potential and maybe realize more potential than even they realize they had. — Kenneth Lay

We use competitive markets to arrange for delivery of our food supply. — Kenneth Lay

Every market is in transition. — Kenneth Lay

I don't think I'm a criminal, number one. — Kenneth Lay

Our liquidity is fine. As a matter of fact, it's better than fine. It's strong. — Kenneth Lay

I threw my whole life and lived my life in a certain way to make sure that I would never violate any law.. certainly never any criminal laws.. and always maintained that most important to me was my integrity, was my character, were my values. — Kenneth Lay

But certainly I didn't know he was doing anything that was criminal. — Kenneth Lay

There are absolutely no problems that had anything to do with Jeff's departure. — Kenneth Lay

Aggressive accounting does not mean illegal accounting. — Kenneth Lay

I don't fear jail because I know I'm not guilty. I know I did nothing wrong. I did nothing criminal and I also believe my God will get me through this. — Kenneth Lay

We're (also) looking for a good people person who is able to motivate others and get strong performances out of people. — Kenneth Lay

We will cooperate fully with the SEC and look forward to the opportunity to put any concern about these transactions to rest. — Kenneth Lay

The problems in California have been that it's been very difficult to site and build new power plants. — Kenneth Lay

I have faith in the market when we get the rules right. — Kenneth Lay

There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues. — Kenneth Lay

Trillions of dollars every day are being exchanged around the world in all of the financial markets. — Kenneth Lay

We've tried to get as much supply into California as we can. — Kenneth Lay

Jeff knew full well what he was walking away from. Again, he needed to deal with this right away. — Kenneth Lay

It's been very interesting. We've seen a lot of interesting testimony. We've seen a lot of interesting people, a lot of allegations, a lot of lies, a lot of misinformation and some truth. — Kenneth Lay

The collapse of Enron and the subsequent collapse of Arthur Andersen were tremendous tragedies. But as I stated at the time of my indictment on July 8, 2004, failure does not equate to a crime. — Kenneth Lay

In the case of Enron, we balance our positions all the time. — Kenneth Lay

I take responsibility for what happened at Enron, both good and bad. But I cannot take responsibility for criminal conduct that I was unaware of. — Kenneth Lay

But the most important thing is, Enron did not cause the California crisis. — Kenneth Lay

We see ourselves as first helping to open up markets to competition. — Kenneth Lay

You'll have lower prices under deregulation than you will through regulation. — Kenneth Lay

Any slots at the senior level, including CEO or other slots, will be filled internally. — Kenneth Lay

I've been a strong financial and political supporter of, first, President Bush Sr. when he was running for president, and even when he ran for president a time or two and failed. — Kenneth Lay

The transmission systems are still regulated. — Kenneth Lay

I have to take responsibility for anything that happened within its businesses. — Kenneth Lay

We need someone who is a strong representative of our value system. — Kenneth Lay

I mean, our primary businesses in wholesale pipelines, utilities, retail, were all doing extremely well. — Kenneth Lay

We don't break the law. — Kenneth Lay

You'd rather have a surplus versus a shortage in your position. — Kenneth Lay

I take full responsibility for what happened at Enron. But saying that, I know in my mind that I did nothing criminal. — Kenneth Lay

They can't do without electricity. They can do with less electricity. — Kenneth Lay

When there's uncertainty they always think there's another shoe to fall. There is no other shoe to fall. — Kenneth Lay

But indeed a market like California is not good for Enron. — Kenneth Lay

Investors don't like uncertainty. — Kenneth Lay

Am I a fool? I don't think I'm a fool. But I think I sure was fooled. — Kenneth Lay

But I can't take responsibility for criminal conduct of somebody inside the company. — Kenneth Lay

I've not only pursued the American dream, I've achieved it. I suppose we could say the last few years, I've also achieved the American nightmare. — Kenneth Lay

Today, there are also buyers and sellers of all these energy commodities, just like there are buyers and sellers of food commodities and many other commodities. — Kenneth Lay

Well, rates would go up whether you deregulate or not, and of course, the rates that are going up right now on the electricity side are still within the regulated framework. — Kenneth Lay

If there is anything material and we're not reporting it, we'll be breaking the law. We don't break the law. — Kenneth Lay