Henry Kravis Quotes

If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not a moral and ethical person, you really have nothing.

A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them.

As I said there is nothing wrong with failing. Pick yourself up and try it again. You never are going to know how good you really are until you go out and face failure.

If you build that foundation, both the moral and the ethical foundation, as well as the business foundation, and the experience foundation, then the building won't crumble.

If you have something at risk, you think differently.

If you don't have integrity, you have nothing. You can't buy it.

Whales who come up and spout off get harpooned.

I've been in a hurry all my life. I've been in a hurry to succeed, and in a hurry to prove myself.

It's one of the most important things at the end of the day, being able to say no to an investment.

I love the ability to work with very good managers, and to provide the right incentives for them, and truly become a partner with that management, and make that management take a long view.

I want people who will stand up to me. People who are not afraid to say exactly what's on their minds, even though that's probably not what I want to hear. That's what I want.

It's not just buying the company. Sure, we picked the right companies, and we picked the right management and, most importantly, we've given them the right incentive to perform.

But once you buy a company, you are married. You are married to that company.

The trouble, in my opinion, with corporate America today, is that everything is thought of in quarters.

I was an economics major in college, and every summer after school, I would drive my car from California, from Claremont men's college at the time, to New York. And I worked on Wall Street.

I always like to refer managers in corporate America as the renters of the corporate assets, not the owners.

You only have one thing to sell in life, and that's yourself.

And make sure that capital structure we have in place is the right capital structure. I think that's the reason that we've been successful.

Any fool can buy a company; just pay enough

A real entrepreneurs who do not need protection nets underneath

One, I love the creativity. I love the ability to create a capital structure that is appropriate for a company, no matter what field it happens to be in.

Going public is not a business plan.