Felix Rohatyn Quotations

Investment banking is not a business; it is a personal service where bankers work hand in hand with their clients. And it is a service that must not simply be about making bigger and bigger deals that reap rewards for only a small group of executives.

I am a capitalist and I believe in making a profit.

At its core, banking is not simply about profit, but about personal relationships.

In the 1970s, New York City avoided bankruptcy because wise political leaders like Gov. Hugh L. Carey believed both in strong labor unions and robust banks and companies.

The early years of my life were very, very traumatic. It was scary, because any child knew that death was sort of lurking around Europe as far as Jews were concerned.

The whole market mechanism and its evolution is something that, I'm kind of of the Buffett School. You know, if I see a derivative, I run the other way.

Gold above $600 is frightening. It appears that people expect inflation, and that people don't have trust in our currency.

Throughout U.S. history, competent public investments have been an essential complement to private investments - from the Louisiana Purchase, to land-grant colleges, to the Interstate Highway System, to the Internet.

You've got very powerful, very intelligent and very imaginative people on both sides.

The battle with cable is here. This deal will make the new AT&T better able to compete, not just with cable and satellite but with all the new technologies that are coming at them.

Financial hydrogen bombs built on personal computers by 26-year-olds with MBAs.

Democracy cannot flourish half rich and half poor, any more than it can flourish half free and half slave.

What is desperately needed... is the skepticism and the sense of history that a liberal arts education provides.

Success in business, as in life, is often largely just a matter of luck.

Hillary Brown understands that?for our grandchildren's sake?we must rebuild America and, in doing so, re-imagine our interconnected infrastructure systems to make them more efficient, environmentally safe, and resilient in this age of global urbanization. This fascinating and important book should be required reading for our elected officials and policy-makers.

Beware of lawyers and consultants and people who do not take risks and who do not get their hands dirty.

I think there are two areas where new ideas are terribly dangerous: economics and sex. By and large, it's all been tried, and if it's really new, it's probably illegal or dangerous or unhealthy.

Saving New York City from bankruptcy is like making love to a gorilla. You don't stop when you're tired; you stop when he's tired.

Fairness does not require the redistribution of wealth; it requires the creation of wealth, geared to an economy that can provide employment for everyone able and willing to work.