We have limited time, and we have to maximize it.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Every day should be a good day. People fool themselves that they’ll be here forever.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Live life intensely – I’ve always believed in that.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I like being in warm weather. I find that relaxes me. I like being near water. I like sitting on a beach and sort of hearing the water, watching waves break, looking at the shimmering. I find that really relaxing.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Most youth are lacking critical life skills that make them employable and, most importantly, able to keep a job – things like teamwork, decision-making, and time management.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
We need sobriety, rationality, and civility in the discussions on the regulation of financial institutions so that the banks can return in a robust manner to their central role in funding the economy.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
The Schwarzman Scholars is a program that was designed with Tsinghua University. They asked me to do something in honor of their 100th anniversary.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Dodd-Frank has disproportionately burdened community banks, despite their having no role in the financial crisis.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
You can’t grow unless your banking system is expanding and you are extending credit.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I have a saying: There are no brave old people in finance. Because if you’re brave, you mostly get destroyed in your 30s and 40s. If you make it to your 50s and 60s and you’re still prospering, you have a very good sense of how to avoid problems and when to be conservative or aggressive with your investments.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Business is usually a team sport. There isn’t one great person sitting there directing things. You can’t run an effective business like that.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Preparing youth for employment requires training that is demand-driven to meet the needs of companies and ensure that young people are taught marketable skills.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Ironically, when a bunch of very smart people are sitting around a table for hours trying to figure out whether they should do something, that tends to not necessarily lead to the best results.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Next to my mom, I’m actually a shrinking violet.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I’ve learned that all investments have risk.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
China is an indomitable force, and they have a commitment for excellence.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I like things with upside. That’s how you make money.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
As you have more resources in life, it’s your obligation to deploy those for the benefit of others.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I always felt uncomfortable with real estate because buildings don’t move, and neighborhoods change.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I’m a consistent little person.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I love things that cost nothing that have great results.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
The library helps lower- and middle-income people – immigrants – get their shot at the American dream.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Public service is a core value for people of my generation.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Sometimes, success in life is knowing one’s limitations.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Inaccurate analysis produces faulty insights and bad decisions – which lead to losing a tremendous amount of money.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I love picking people. I started Blackstone, and we had no people, and now we have with our portfolio companies about 750,000 people all over the world. Everybody who is at a senior level has ultimately been picked by me.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I’m concerned with China growing at double or triple the rate of the West, that there will be tensions. One needs to do something to start addressing misunderstandings and frustration.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
My biggest job really is to figure other people out. I need to understand what makes a person tick.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I’m not feeling undertaxed. Tax reform is an important issue. You have to have an inherent sense of fairness.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
This country, of course, needs fundamental reform of our financial regulatory system, as I, and many other financial institution executives, have publicly advocated for a considerable period.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
My father was very bright. My mother had enormous drive. Put that together, and that’s my gene pool.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I’ve always been comfortable with people who run things, whether it was the principal of my high school or the president of the university.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I’ve lived through periods of illiquidity before. Asset prices come down. The economy slows or even goes into recession. Then the cycle re-starts. We buy at lower prices with less leverage.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I don’t feel like a wealthy person. Other people think of me as a wealthy person, but I don’t. I feel the same as when I was a fifth-year associate trying to make partner at Lehman Brothers. I haven’t changed.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
If I get angry, it’s obvious. I don’t have to say much.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
It’s wonderful to learn about new cultures and to be able to travel easily to so many countries.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I can’t micromanage what anybody pays or doesn’t pay. But the concept that half of the public isn’t involved with the income-tax system is somewhat odd and I’m not saying how much people should do, but we should all be part of the system.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I don’t control the political world.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I grew up in a small town outside Philadelphia and went to the local high school, where I ran track all four years.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Today, whenever I’m under pressure to make a decision on a transaction but I don’t know what the right one is, I try desperately to postpone it. I’ll insist on more information – on doing extra laps around the intellectual parking lot – before committing. I take the same approach with people, too.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Every year, I speak to our new associates and give them this advice, although in my own words. ‘This isn’t like school,’ I tell them, ‘where you want to get your hand in the air and give an answer quickly. The only grade here is 100. Deadlines are important, but at Blackstone you can always get help in meeting them.’
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Blackstone is a major client of many of the largest banks around the world.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
In life, you’ll often find that having influence and providing sound advice is a good thing, even if it attracts criticism or requires some sacrifice.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
When you lose control of risk at a financial institution, you do a variety of unfortunate credit extensions or purchases – and all of a sudden, you’ve blown up your business.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Washington, D.C., puts enormous burdens on people who, at the end of the day, are just humans.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
What I’ve found in being around political people is they’re willing to negotiate their ideology somewhere around 5 percent. They believe that’s really stepping out. And it’s really hard to do business when you only move 5 percent from your ideology.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
In 2014, Blackstone was the most profitable money manager in the world. I did not anticipate that.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
I like creating new things.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
In the charitable world, I find myself giving to large projects that I think can make a large-scale impact.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
One of the rules I’ve learned is that struggling to try and think your way into making an investment is usually the best way to not have a great outcome.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
The best investments are the easiest ones to approve.
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Don’t go into something you actually don’t know much about, in the hopes that you’re going to get really financially successful and rewarded… even though people think you’re, like, terrific.
Stephen A. Schwarzman