Persist - don't take no for an answer. If you're happy to sit at your desk and not take any risk, you'll be sitting at your desk for the next 20 years.
The world is a complicated place, and there's a lot of division between people. The performing arts tend to unify people in a way nothing else does.
People used to think that private equity was basically just a compensation scheme, but it is much more about making companies more efficient.
You can only do three things with your money. You can spend it. You can invest it. Or you can give it away. And if you invest it, you're really just getting more money to give away or buy something. How many things can you buy? So I don't really think there's a lot of choices.
It's clear to me when you do private equity well, you're making companies more efficient and helping them grow and become more profitable. That success means our investors - such as public pension funds - benefit, which contributes to the economic wealth of society.
Moneymaking was never anything to me. I was happy never making money; I just was happy doing things I liked. But I fell into the money thing. I now don't feel guilty about it, but I am determined to give away the bulk of it and enjoy doing it.
What do most people say on their deathbed? They don't say, 'I wish I'd made more money.' What they say is, 'I wish I'd spent more time with my family and done more for society or my community.
Sometimes the best decisions in life are on the spur of the moment. So I generally try to do what I think is right. And sometimes I make mistakes.
I really hope that the philanthropy movement is seen not just as wealthy people giving money away but wealthy people giving away their time, their energy and their ideas.
I'm blessed by the fact I only need five hours of sleep on a daily basis. I do tend to regard Saturday and Sunday as work days.
Do not always say no. If satisfied with the seat in place and not reckless, the next 20 years you will still sit there alone
I realised how rich I had become and I asked myself, 'Do I really want to be the richest person in the cemetery?
I think it's a little unfair for people to say you're not paying your fair share of taxes. I'm paying what I'm supposed to pay. Change the law, and I'll pay what I'm supposed to pay.
I give away about 50 percent of my income, so my, you know, desire to give back to the country is pretty strong and I intend to give away a lot more. I've signed the giving pledge with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and I intend to give away the bulk of my money.
Anybody who gives away money is mostly looking at things where they think they can make a difference. I'm trying to help people who helped me, educational institutions that helped me with scholarships, or organizations that were very useful to me in growing up.
I regard food as fuel. I am not a brunch person.
All I'm doing is I'm filling out my tax returns - or my accountants are, and I'm paying whatever I'm supposed to pay, though I'm giving away a large amount of the money and that probably lowers my tax rate because I'm giving away so much money. But change the law, but don't blame me for the law. I'm not writing the law. I didn't write the law.
I don't really try to get involved politically by giving money to politicians or by saying I'm a Democrat or Republican. Right now, I just view myself as an American.
I'm on a lot of nonprofit boards, but if I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't do it. I haven't yet done anything that's transformational in philanthropy. But I hope at some point to target two or three causes or organizations and really make transformational gifts.
I am involved in a lot of nonprofits. And when I reached the ripe old age of 60, I wanted to provide leadership to some I had been involved in.
When I worked in the White House for President Carter, we tried to do comprehensive tax reform and we made some progress, and other presidents have as well.
As the baby boomers like me are retiring and getting ready to retire, they will spend whatever it takes - and theyre the wealthiest generation in our country - to make themselves live an enjoyable life in their retirement years.
For me, few things are more compelling than watching a great opera.
I've given some money to the scholarships in the District of Columbia, to the best students in D.C... many of the students have written me letters telling me they could not have afforded to go to college without the scholarship and money I've given them.
My father worked in a post office and never made probably more than $8,000 a year as an employee of the post office, so when people can rise up from very modest circumstances and do well economically, I think that's a good thing about America, and we should encourage that kind of activity.
