Ann Taylor - great name, great real estate, shitty business. Gap -great name, great real estate, declining business. J.Crew - Hellooo? Great name, better fashion image than the Gap.

You can't run a business without taking risks.

I don't buy art. I'd rather buy a beautiful location or a beautiful site than buy art. A beautiful home is like owning a beautiful painting, except you can live in it.

I'm always looking over my shoulder, needing to stay ahead of the game.

What matters is hard work, and emotional intelligence.

People put 'study abroad' on their resume. I actually like when they don't study abroad because that means they aren't entitled.

Everything has a trend to it; I don't care if it's appliances or engines. I always ask: What has a company done in the past five years that somebody's noticed?

Most obstacles are inspiration.

I'm an agent of change all day long, and I want to meet other people like that.

Good taste shouldn't have to cost anything extra.

I spot detail quickly.

If you want to see the consequences of ideas, write a story. If you want to see the consequences of belief, write a story in which somebody is acting on the ideas or beliefs that she has.

It's great if you can help others, but seriously ... don't lose YOURSELF in the process!

A king ruleth as he ought, a tyrant as he lists, a king to the profit of all, a tyrant only to please a few.

We are only peripherally tied to the lives of others. It takes a long long time for us to become deeply involved with others, and for some this never happens.

Being still and doing nothing are two completely different things

I've been doing things myself in the sense that I haven't had a night nurse or anything like that, so I've spent every night with baby except for the nights that I've had to travel.

If I could do anything over, I'd have spent more time with my first set of children. I would have taken more quality time with them, for sure.

I've been doing politics 30 years. I've never seen an election like this [in 2016]. This is entirely unpredictable.

My first novel was a challenge to myself. No one had an inkling that I was working on it.

There is magic in patience, you know.