What I don't like about Washington, if we say one syllable or one sentence, or this guy said something bad about me, then, all of a sudden, they have to be my mortal enemy. I don't think that's how it works in American business.

Let me tell you something about myself. I am a straight shooter.

On the back of comic books in the 1970s, there was something called the American Seed Company. They would send you a cardboard box full of seeds; kids would sell them door-to-door in the neighborhood and then pick from a catalog of prizes. I bought myself a watch that way.

I had come from a middle-class family in Port Washington, Long Island, and I was really clueless about Wall Street. My first job there I basically got fired from.

This is the problem with the leaking. This is actually a terrible thing. Let's say I'm firing Michael Short today. The fact that you guys know about it before he does really upsets me as a human being and as a Roman Catholic.

The American Dream means any person can achieve prosperity through hard work and ingenuity because there are no inherent barriers in our society.