When dictators feel their support slipping among adults, it is not unusual for them to alter school textbooks in the hope of enlisting impressionable youths in their cause.

Syria is important because it lies at the heart of a region critical to U.S. security, a region that is home to friends and partners and one of our closest allies. It is important because the Syrian regime possesses stores of chemical weapons that they have recently used on a large scale and that we cannot allow to fall into terrorists' hands.

My style in diplomacy is my style as a human being - I'm very direct and very honest.

U.N. Security Council resolutions are only as effective as their enforcement.

Any business owner can tell you that if their company isn't performing profitably and up to standards, one of two things will happen: either you make changes to improve its efficiency, or a competitor will drive you out of business. Market forces have a way of cutting to the chase rather quickly.

You will not see, in my career, the kind of returns this industry had in 2005 and 2006 for a very simple reason - the banks were undercapitalized, and returns are a function of earnings and capital.

It's kind of a weird thing when you've been at the top of a division you've been in your entire career to kind of take a backseat because of friendship.

I manage my business; politicians are doing their business. I can only work within their rules and regulations. I can't pick up a political fight.