Bill Keller Quotes

Investors are sometimes too busy looking for profits to notice where the truth ends and the deception begins.

All money is not good money.

When you get money you're always a target because there's always somebody who needs money out there.

My little scam in April '85 went like this: Give me $50,000; here's some names of some people we've recruited.

Wall Street is greedy, reckless and they operate illegally. That's fine. But what do you do?

I can't shoot myself in the foot before I get in the chorus line.

Many scammers are only using personal checks for payment because they can take the money and run.

Start small; get to know the landscape. We take risks but not major risks. We always started with small capital - €4m in Holland, $10m in Russia - and as we get to know the landscape of a country, we think about other businesses.

From 1983 to 2000, William Goren stole more than $30 million from investors on Long Island and in Queens. His favorite targets were widows and retired couples, like Helga and Simon Novack, Holocaust survivors who gave Mr. Goren their life savings.

When so much money is involved in these movies, someone somewhere is going to try to screw you.

You must spend money to make money.

If you take the approach that you want to scrape every last nickel off the table, that'll work one or two times, but after awhile, your reputation will precede you.

Producers are not gamblers. They want a good return on their investment.

Prosecutors are all used to people who commit fraud making wild accusations when they're caught.

And $18 million in three Japanese banks, completely false. That I have two factories in Panama, also completely false. This is part of the counter campaign of some people.

A star may guarantee business, but the tradeoff is a very short run.

Politics is the most corrupt profession on Earth, no matter where you are.

When I finished school, I took my entire life savings - $5,000 - and invested it in a business. I was young. I was inexperienced. But I was an entrepreneur, and I was proud. And in six weeks, I was broke.

You know if you let me write $200 billion worth of hot checks, I could also give you the illusion of prosperity.

We have even made businessmen return money that they have looted from the Exchequer in the past.

As for these speculators I wish every one of them would have his devilish head shot off.

I decided that the stock market was not an option for IKEA. I knew that only a long-term perspective could secure our growth plans, and I didn't want IKEA to become dependent on financial institutions.

In the public mind, an investment banker is no longer conservative; he's a risk taker, a gambler in high stakes, not to mention a thief. These people are dangerous - deliciously so.

One of the things Goldman teaches you is, don't be the first guy through the door because you're going to get all the arrows.

Remember that all financial markets are filled with good but not necessarily innocent people looking after their own self-interests before they look after yours.