Gerry Schwartz

I have almost no interest in quarterly reports. Running a business or investing in a business based on quarterly earnings doesn't make any sense at all to me. ”

I was a kid from Winnipeg - I didn't know anything about the world. ”

Private equity does pay very well, and my counterparts, guys that I grew up with who are still working at a number of firms, all make a lot of money. ”

I love the U.S. I love doing business there. ”

Helping people getting a great start in life, a great foundation, is an investment. ”

Interestingly, a good undergraduate program does a lot of what an MBA does. I think a really good undergraduate program and some work experience is just about the equal of an MBA. ”

You see these young people in Antigonish who are coming from Cape Breton, and these are really smart, attractive young people, who are living in a place that's been very rough economically. It's a very special thing to be helpful there. ”

I'd always felt like a Canadian living in the U.S. ”

Good decisions can have bad short-term outcomes but be great for the business long-term. ”

A lot of what I do is running businesses rather than buying stocks. My worst decision is probably when I know I have the wrong chief executive running the business, and I keep on waiting to make the difficult decision of replacing him. ”