Gutfreund Quotes & Sayings

The idea that property has overcome our personalities is the single reason we'll miss the best part of our lives. It's people, not possessions that make our lives worth living. — Brian Krans

The media, the polls and our legislatures fortunately have short attention spans. — John Gutfreund

Fair enough, Gutfreund had once been a trader, but that was as relevant as an old woman's claim that she was once quite a dish. — Michael Lewis

What Gutfreund said has become a legend at Salomon Brothers and a visceral part of its corporate identity. He said: One hand, one million dollars, no tears. — Michael Lewis

I know I need to generate a structure full of holes so that I can always find a place for myself on the page, inhabit it; I have to remember never to put in more than is necessary, never overlay, never furnish or adorn. — Valeria Luiselli

I thought that ending Glass-Steagall was a mistake. — John Gutfreund

Commercial banks are very good for certain businesses, like loans and guarding other people's money. They're not great investors or entrepreneurs. — John Gutfreund

Now I realize that I have to let everyone take what they have to take from the film. No matter what I think about the film, it becomes a little irrelevant. I think I would say that the film is trying to show us that - and I spoke about that earlier - we have to let the teachers invest in their own classroom. There's no use in trying to control everything. Education is fundamental. — Philippe Falardeau

Every day, sincerely and without phoniness, Lou demonstrated by his actions how very vital it is - more than anything else - to understand and appreciate the people who work with you ... Do your job well, but always remember that the people you work with are your most valuable asset. Embrace them. Honor them. Respect them" (206) - "Prescriptions for Success" by John Schuerholz — Denzel Washington

Of course we women gossip on occasion. But our appetite for it is not as avid as a man s. It is in the boys gyms, the college fraternity houses, the club locker rooms, the paneled offices of business that gossip reaches its luxuriant flower. — Phyllis McGinley

I am more rich in goods than I am in money. — John Gutfreund

Shareholders share in the downside and not necessarily in the upside; that's the whole story. — John Gutfreund

Proprietary stock-index arbitrage is but one aspect of program trading. Arbitrage will take place whenever there is an imbalance created in one or more markets that are similar. — John Gutfreund

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. — Steven Wright

I never thought of myself as a king. People really want you to be their deity. They forget the fact that you are a person who has feelings and doubts. — John Gutfreund

Gutfreund (pronounced Good friend) liked to sneak up from behind and surprise you. This was fun for him but not for you. — Michael Lewis

All that you achieve and all that you fail to achieve are the direct results of your thoughts. — John Spence

In the two decades after I left, I waited for the end of Wall Street as I had known it. The outrageous bonuses, the endless parade of rogue traders, the scandal that sank Drexel Burnham, the scandal that destroyed John Gutfreund and finished off Salomon Brothers, the crisis following the collapse of my old boss John Meriwether's Long-Term Capital Management, the Internet bubble: Over and over again, the financial system was, in some narrow way, discredited. Yet the big Wall Street banks at the center of it just kept on growing, along with the sums of money that they doled out to twenty-six-year-olds to perform tasks of no obvious social utility. The rebellion by American youth against the money culture never happened. Why bother to overturn your parents' world when you can buy it and sell off the pieces? — Michael Lewis

I have never been a social lion; I was misidentified as one because I have a very attractive second wife. — John Gutfreund

the regular crying, lights on — Amir Gutfreund

I don't have many regrets. I regret mistakes, particularly those that damage other people, and we've all made some of those. But I'm not sad about change. — John Gutfreund

People in Philadelphia are a world apart from New York. They're very different from people in the New York scene. The New York scene wants your visibility and wants your money. — John Gutfreund