“If I complain about a traffic jam, I have no one to blame but myself.”
“Casino gambling is colorful and dramatic and theatrical.”
“Keeping customers is about the experience, and the employees control the culture and temperature of the business. Never forget that.”
“Nobody likes being around poor people, especially poor people.”
“This generation… they have a different attitude. Instead of sitting and watching something, they want to be a part of it – they’re very hedonistic and sensual.”
“Money doesn’t make people happy. People make people happy.”
“What’s the most fetching thing that provokes people? A volcano? Fountains that dance? A pirate ship that sinks? Some other animated device or presentation? Is that as strong as mystery? Allure, intrigue, is much more powerful… It taunts you.”
“What we know about the destination resort business is clearly established. But it’s all about one thing, and one thing only. All of the razzmatazz and jazz we hear about facilities and everything else doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. It’s customer experience that determines the longevity and endurance of these enterprises.”
“Rich people only like being around rich people.”
“If you don’t have a voice that forces you back to basics, you’re a dangerous person. Or to put it another way: You’re at risk, and the people with you are at risk. I’m not a daredevil. I don’t fly without a safety net.”
“I say don’t overreact; cool your jets. Focus on things that you can control: your business, your employees’ welfare, your guests, and the quality of the product that you dish up. Do that, keep your chin down, pay attention to business, and the sun will come up tomorrow. That’s the way I figure it.”
“I am a self-made brat.”
“I have very little respect for the integrity of the trading on the exchange in most stocks. And I have particular disdain for the fact that the SEC has failed to deal with high-frequency traders who are doing nothing more than taking advantage of inside information, a buy or a sell order, because of technology advantages.”
“I’ve become an animal rights activist.”
“Getting things straight in your head is a major achievement because there’s so much clutter out there. You’ve got to push aside the static to really hear the music.”
“Remember that the Communist Party is a meritocracy in China.”
“The minute you do any layoffs, you might as well lay off the whole joint because everybody forgets about the customer and worries about their job security.”
“I support Democrats and Republicans. And I’m telling you that the business community in this company is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the President of the United States. And until he’s gone, everybody’s going to be sitting on their thumbs.”
“Capital structure isn’t an eyeshade economic thing: It’s about your ability to protect your workforce and your service levels.”
“I’m killing two birds at once, so to speak. Animal-based food kills people. This way, by going vegan… we get healthy and save animals. I’m being selfish, too, because if I can get my employees healthier, we cut down on sick days and gain more productivity.”
“The most impressive person I’ve ever met? Elaine Wynn is no slouch. She’s a much better person than me. But I’ve got her. Finders keepers, losers weepers. And it’s been forty-seven years.”
“I had a disc giving me a lot of trouble, and I had four surgeries. Then I had a staph infection, so they had to open me up five times in four months… It was in the bottom of my back, the same incision. They should have put a zipper on it.”
“I’ve never had difficulty dominating any market I’ve been in.”
“It’s very difficult to explain to a normal working citizen the implications of what $18 trillion in debt means and what it means when the Federal Reserve buys the U.S. Treasury bonds to finance our loss every month.”
“Nevada Energy doesn’t lose money. The gaming industry loses money. It employs all the people. It pays all the taxes. And if you take the P&L, the profit and loss, of the hotels in Las Vegas and Reno, it is a number that is minus, not plus, minus.”
“In the last 680 million years of the four and a half billion that this planet has existed, life has been determined by two principal forces: the warmth and the diffused energy of the sunlight coming through our atmosphere, and water. Those are the primordial forces of life – sunlight and water.”
“Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilization’s history. For some reason that simple truth has evaded everybody.”
“I believe in Las Vegas. I think its best days are ahead of it. But I’m afraid to do anything in the current political environment in the United States.”
“You watch television and see what’s going on on this debt ceiling issue. And what I consider to be a total lack of leadership from the President and nothing’s going to get fixed until the President himself steps up and wrangles both parties in Congress.”
“And those of us who have business opportunities and the capital to do it are going to sit in fear of the President. And a lot of people don’t want to say that. They’ll say, God, don’t be attacking Obama. Well, this is Obama’s deal and it’s Obama that’s responsible for this fear in America.”
“The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don’t invest, their holding too much money. We haven’t heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody’s afraid of the government and there’s no need soft peddling it, it’s the truth. It is the truth.”
“Washington is unpredictable these days.”
“No one has any idea what’s next… the uncertainty of the business climate in America is frightening, frightening to everybody, and it’s delaying the recovery.”
“Macau has been steady. The shocking, unexpected government is the one in Washington.”
“We’re on our way to Greece, in the hands of a confused, foolish government. It’s got to stop. It’s got to stop.”
“My father died during open-heart surgery on March 29 of my senior year in college. I was getting set to go to law school. I remember sitting in the waiting room when the doctor walked in. I said to myself, The worst possible thing just happened. What will you do?”
“This office is smaller than the last one I had. I’m not trying to impress people. I want to be close to them.”
“Keep it simple. Tell the truth. People can smell the truth.”
“Change is not threatening.”
“Other people’s successes are good news – for them and for you. Good for you because they show you a way to go.”
“Artists, actors, people like that, they live in a very strange bubble of their own. They’re mollycoddled; they’re highly privileged.”
“If you run a business, if you are responsible for a lot of people, you come to grips with the reality that you have to have discipline. You have to protect the enterprise in order to take care of the employees. So, therefore, you can’t be wasteful. You can’t squander things, or you jeopardize other people.”
“’Le Reve’ may be one of the three best pictures Pablo Picasso ever painted.”
“I’ll trade glib for common sense any day.”
“I’m a job creator.”
“My organization, my colleagues and I, are paid to run hotels in good times and fair times. We’re professionals. That’s what we do. I don’t give a damn about the short-term market implications.”
“The pent-up demand for the good life in China is extraordinary.”
“Did we not all grow up saying we had to have four glasses of whole milk a day for healthy bones? It’s ridiculous. It’s liquid cholesterol.”
“I don’t want any more concentration camps for animals that are cruelly treated, force-fed to fatten themselves up for our consumption.”
“I’ve changed my will to show my concern for animal rights.”
“When you hear a politician say ‘fair share,’ you are talking about hypocritical political propaganda. You are not talking about an intelligent discussion of who is paying what and who isn’t paying taxes.”
“People that create jobs create tax payers, which benefits society as a whole.”
“I am so focused on the fact that the conversation doesn’t address any of the things I think are important. I think our political dialogue in America is distorted and completely off track.”
“You need to build a place that is a touristic destination that brings in people from outside the region.”
“I thrive in competitive environments. I’ve never been in a monopoly.”
“You can’t discuss Macau in any logical conversation. It will distort any reality.”
“Most people I know that are successful have a few things in common that are undeniable: driving ambition, and they have applied that to something they’re good at, that they love doing… and they are fun to be around, especially when they’re talking about their passion.”
“In business or in life, focus on the things over which you do have some control. And don’t fret about all the other problems. Most of the time, they don’t come true anyway!”
“Donald calls me and asks me what I think. Very often I will answer him, but Donald Trump is his own adviser. He is his own campaign manager.”
“Someone who will take responsibility for the real welfare of the American people, to be honest with them. I’d like to have that adult in the room.”
“I think, generally, the folks from mainland China have more positive feelings about the government here in many cases than the average Americans feel about their government.”
“I want people to be transported by the hotel. I’m thinking, What is it that would make people be delighted and amazed?”
“A lot of places in Las Vegas are big boxes of stuff. The hotels I’ve built have had, for lack of a better term, a soul.”
“Money is a way of expressing no compromise.”
“Our government is printing money, and it’s degrading the living standard of every person in America. It’s the cause of frustration, anger, and confusion.”
“Anyone can make things that are beautiful; we need to make things that are remarkable.”
“We recruit our people for personality. We look for the people person, with innate warmth, sweetness, and intelligence. These are the people who are sending your message out to the customers and potential customers, so we recruit for personality first and foremost.”
“This is what you need to do in a luxury business: look for people who will like being there every day.”
“Guys like me are job creators, and we don’t like having a bulls-eye painted on our back.”
“I can’t stand the idea of being demagogued: that is, put down by a president who has never created any jobs and who doesn’t even understand how the economy works.”
“I had an excellent Ivy League education, and it gave me a long view of things.”
“It’s very difficult for the middle class in America to keep up because of the inflationary pressure and the devaluation of the dollar.”
“Keep a strong balance sheet, don’t get over-leveraged, and try to protect the security of your employees.”
“We never know what the Street is going to do with the funky trading.”
“If you don’t have a voice that forces you back to basics, you’re a dangerous person. Or, to put it another way, you’re at risk, and the people with you are at risk.”
“I’m not a daredevil. I don’t fly without a safety net.”
“Posturing is counterproductive. Posturing only works if things are screwed up.”
“I went public in 2002 in America, and do you know what Wall Street valued my concession in Macau at? Zero.”
“The greatest thing that ever happened to me in my life was being allowed to do business in Macau and in China. I love it here. It has been the greatest single event in my commercial career. Period.”
“We have nothing but gratitude for the opportunity we have had here, and any other response would be ridiculous, irresponsible and a lie. It is that simple. I owe China; China doesn’t owe me.”
“The government of Macau, of China, has been empirical and pragmatic and has brought hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, a feat unequaled in the history of civilization in any country.”
“Managing China is a daunting task, and they’ve got smart people doing it.”
“I love being part of the Chinese scene as a businessman. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t short-term discomforts and adjustments.”
“I always wanted to meet Nelson Mandela, and I have friends who knew him, but I didn’t get to meet Mandela. I always thought he was a spectacular character.”
“What excites me the most is working on new projects.”
“I don’t play computer games. What I do is yell at my secretary and say, ‘Go on the Internet, and find this or that.’”
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