I don't like the term "universal bank." The Chinese government legitimately wants to have a very strong economy. When they talk about SOE reform, they know that's part of it.

The government has the right to change laws and rules and regulations.

You read constantly that banks are lobbying regulators and elected officials as if this is inappropriate. We don't look at it that way.

Don't do anything stupd. And don't waste money. Let everybody else waste money and do stupid things; then we'll buy them.

Just because you have a good hand today doesn't mean it's good tomorrow. And some of the things we're doing may become very disadvantageous at some point.

My daughter asked me when she came home from school, "What's the financial crisis?" and I said, it's something that happens every five to seven years.

Our plate is full. We have a lot to do building our company organically and that is our key focus.

We're going to do the right thing for the company and our customers, all things considered.

Businesses can be opaque. They are complex. You don't know how aircraft engines work either.

We have built a very good company, and we're proud of it. We also recognize that much of it has been built on the shoulders of the thousands of employees and leaders who have worked here before us.

You never know exactly how new policies are going to work. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try them.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.

All respect is earned, even self-respect.

Some people handle the truth carelessly Others never touch it at all.

Happy and alone, you say? Reclusive and merry? How oxymoronic! Pas possible! Alas, the concept is lost on so many.

I hope - I'm a democrat. I'm a democratically elected politician from the Netherlands representing one of the major parties in Holland - I hope that I will be able to talk and to discuss with people.

Just be nice to people and be someone people want to work with because if people don't like working with you it's just not going to work out.

If my life had to be a song I would name it, 'Live every day like its your best day ever', because it pretty much is.

A sin...consists in doing, saying, thinking, or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God

Blakes Hotel in South Kensington was a particular favourite of mine during what I affectionately think of as my Restless Years.

The world is alive and no living thing has any remedy. That is our fortune.