“The reason I grew so fast in the supermarket business, without help of the banks in those days, was through my vendors. I convinced my vendors, the companies I was doing business with, if I did more business, they would do more business.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Pizza is no longer on my diet.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m not a Johnny-come-lately Jew. I’ve been around. I watch out for the Jews; I watch out for the Catholics.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I could have beat Obama.”
― John Catsimatidis
“My life would be better without Gristedes.”
― John Catsimatidis
“We have to draw the line someplace with all the pesticides being used by the farmers.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I started in the supermarket business in the early ’70s. And by ’75, ’76, I realized you don’t have a business unless you own the real estate.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Americans like buying American vs. buying from Chavez or buying from the Middle East.”
― John Catsimatidis
“It seems everyone knows the value of a cantaloupe or a quart of milk.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Grocery stores can’t afford to pay $80 a square foot. At that rate, we are going out of business.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m a New York businessman.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m the same businessman Donald Trump is.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Anytime you cut food stamps, it naturally affects sales. People spend less.”
― John Catsimatidis
“It will be almost impossible for any other candidate to raise the money that the Clintons can raise.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I think New York is destined to have a Democratic mayor, and I want Freddy Ferrer to be that mayor.”
― John Catsimatidis
“When the commodities go up and the cost of transportation is going up, and the value of the dollar is going down, it’s all going to translate to an 8 to 10 percent rise in food prices.”
― John Catsimatidis
“What transpired at Semgroup was no less than a $500 billion fraud on the people of the world.”
― John Catsimatidis
“The media doesn’t always reflect reality.”
― John Catsimatidis
“As mayor, I would support law enforcement, not knock it down.”
― John Catsimatidis
“The Fresh Direct model doesn’t work.”
― John Catsimatidis
“What’s worse than getting divorced?”
― John Catsimatidis
“Nobody destroys people – people destroy themselves, and it’s very, very sad.”
― John Catsimatidis
“There are two New Yorks – Manhattan and everything else. I’m a Manhattanite. I feel sorry for those people who aren’t.”
― John Catsimatidis
“One mentor I had taught me that people do what you inspect, not necessarily what you expect. In other words, if nobody is watching, there will be some slack off.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I put $5 million into the real-estate business when the world was coming to an end, and three years later, by 1980, I woke up and was worth a hundred. That’s a lot of money back then.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I believe business has to do well and that the surrounding communities do well.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I promoted myself as a fusion ticket. I was running as a Republican liberal.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I was a Clinton Democrat for twenty years.”
― John Catsimatidis
“We are teaching kids to fail. We need to teach our kids to succeed.”
― John Catsimatidis
“It is tough that a lot of kids have single-family homes.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Everyone – whether it’s the Jews, the Greeks, the Catholics – everybody is entitled to religious beliefs and entitled to their traditions.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I just want to reflect the respect I have for animals.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I could be like Joe Kennedy and say, ‘My kids are going to run for president!’”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m a visionary. I’m not a maintenance person.”
― John Catsimatidis
“All my life, I’ve been winning, ok?”
― John Catsimatidis
“I care about making New York better.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m not a Mike Bloomberg billionaire.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I respect John Kennedy for saying that he had a dream that we’d go to the moon before the end of the decade.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Bill Clinton told me that when he was 14, he shook John Kennedy’s hand, and that inspired him to be president.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I want to inspire people.”
― John Catsimatidis
“New York is for everybody; it’s for the poor, it’s for the middle-class, it’s for the wealthy. We can’t punish any one group and chase them away.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I think the rich should pay more in taxes – I agree with that 100 percent – but everybody should feel the pain a little bit.”
― John Catsimatidis
“New York never felt the recession. New York never felt a depression.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I was a Mitt Romney Republican because he was pro-business.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I grew up on 135th Street. I grew up on the poor side of New York. I grew up in Harlem.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I am a real New Yorker… I didn’t go to Harvard, I didn’t go to Yale… I rooted for the Yankees; I didn’t root for the Boston Red Sox.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m not ashamed of being successful. You know, they criticized Romney for being ashamed of it. I think we’ve got to inspire our kids that we shouldn’t be ashamed to be successful.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m a Bill Clinton social Republican.”
― John Catsimatidis
“My father died in ’97. But at least he lived until 93, so he saw my success.”
― John Catsimatidis
“You have to work at everything. You’ve got to make it work.”
― John Catsimatidis
“America always recovers.”
― John Catsimatidis
“While in my late teens and in my 20s, I worked seven days a week, 20 hours a day. I worked my tail off.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Material things don’t matter.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I love people. I enjoy people.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I’m tough, but I have a heart.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I made a ton of money.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I believe that all people that are successful should pay back their cities, their states, their towns, our country.”
― John Catsimatidis
“I have a love factor with the minorities.”
― John Catsimatidis
“Am I a Republican? Yes. Am I a Democrat? Yes. Am I a conservative? Yes. Am I a liberal? Yes.”
― John Catsimatidis
“People tell me, ‘You better lose weight if you want to run for mayor.’ I said, ‘I got the Chris Christie look.’”
― John Catsimatidis
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