“Gambling is entertainment… Financial markets, what one often refers to as speculation, is really the force by which we move capital to the best and highest use.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“The resources at Harvard – its professors, our fellow students, the libraries, its alumni – created for me the opportunity to pursue my passions in finance.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“You can’t succeed in the markets today unless you are part of a great team. The team is the essence of how you win.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“The key to our business, it’s a lot of research.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“For choice, I prefer not to be a public figure. I don’t have Tom Cruise’s good looks. I don’t have a need to be on the front page of fill-in-the-blank.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“One of the great advantages that I had in my career is I started trading 24 hours a day in my early 20s, and I had to learn to delegate to people.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“If you look at Citadel today, that’s really – the founding principle of the firm is a real pursuit of talent, a pursuit of people who have a passion for finance, and a pursuit of individuals who make good decisions day in and day out.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“The success story at Citadel has been written by a number of people who have backgrounds from the University of Chicago.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“As an industry, we have a responsibility to manage risk in a way that is prudent.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Investors who find the best businesses to put their money behind are rewarded for their research.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I set up my own trading center in my Cabot dorm room… with my computer, my fax machine, and my telephone.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“We’re going through a period of retrenchment as the dynamics of the playing field are changing.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“So many of the great thought leaders that have shaped economics – Gary Becker, Milton Friedman – what an unbelievable success story they’ve had in their field.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I’ve often thought of successful entrepreneurs as individuals who have just the right expertise – at just the right moment – to solve the emerging problems of their time.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Blockchain’s a very interesting technology that will have some very profound applications for society over the years to come.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“When a company creates a product that directly or indirectly adversely impacts the health of people, that product must be regulated. The process by which it’s created must be regulated. No company has the right to injure people. No company.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“We don’t have a good legal justification for breaking up the banking system. But if I could wave a magic wand, I’d break up the banking system.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“It is often constructive to meet with a candidate for a particular office, but I believe what is most important is the candidate’s track record.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Almost all politicians are able to have a great one-on-one meeting. But I’m not interested in the candidate who can have a great meeting. I’m interested in the person who can make the right decisions.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I don’t feel I’m at liberty to speak about the actions of any one CEO. That’s not fair; given CEOs have duties to their shareholders.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Citadel’s Capital Market division plays an important role in our nation’s financial markets. Our broker-dealer is the largest market maker in options in the United States, executing approximately 30 percent of all equity option trades daily.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“In some industries, we refer to risk taking as ‘research and development.’ At financial institutions, we often take risk by investing in securities.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“It is not my belief that we need greater government regulation of hedge funds with respect to the systemic risk they create.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“We don’t have a good legal justification for breaking up the banking system.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“If I could wave a magic wand, I’d break up the banking system.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I did not forsee a day where the government had to intervene to bail out basically everybody.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Don’t act like a bank unless you are a bank. That was a really big lesson learned from 2008.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“The culture of rigorous questioning and open discourse at the University of Chicago has opened minds to ideas that have changed the world.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“It is my hope that visitors, artists, and students from around the world will experience all that MoMA has to offer for generations to come.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Should we think about separating the investment banks from the commercial banks, a new Glass-Steagall? I would be really excited to see that. I think it would be great for the economy.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Speaker Ryan’s vision for a confident America, both at home and abroad, reflects his thoughtful leadership.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I am supporting many Republican candidates who embrace the principles and policies set forth in Speaker Ryan’s vision and who are committed to moving our country forward on the right path.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I had to learn to trust people, and I realized that success was going to be born in hiring really bright people – very self-motivated, very able to make good judgment calls day in and day out.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I want tension in my business. Tension creates change. Change is necessary to evolve and prosper. I am never satisfied.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Long ago, I had to sort of learn to have a thick skin to read some of the things you read in the papers and to also keep my ego in check when you read some really flattering things in the papers.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Let me be clear: All I really care about is my kids know that their parents love them.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“It drives people nuts that I take them to McDonald’s all the time.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I am proud to support the incredible economics department at the University of Chicago.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“As Americans, I think we really believe that with the meritocracy that exists in our country, the equality of opportunity is so important to the foundation of our culture and our society.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“In our first decade, I interviewed about five thousand people in pursuit of the talent that would create our future. As our success grew, we became known across the four corners of finance not just for our outstanding returns, but also for our outstanding people.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“In our firm’s earliest days, our understanding of the power of great software engineering and quantitative analytics helped Citadel stand out.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“It is incredible to come to work every day surrounded by individuals whose insights and efforts place us at the forefront of finance.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“My fantasy is to break up the big banks. I wish we would end ‘too big to fail’ in our banking system.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Those who have enjoyed the benefits of our system more than ever now owe a duty to protect the system that has created the greatest nation on this planet.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I think if you look at the realm we’re discussing, which is the political realm, I think it would be impossible to find an action by any politician intended to specifically favor either my firm or myself.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Business is business. I don’t manufacture cars, but we do manufacture money.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I have an economics degree from Harvard.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“If you think about the amount of critical thinking that has come into the field of economics, two universities have dominated the landscape in my life: Chicago and Harvard.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I have known Senator Rubio for a number of years, and he is an inspiring, courageous, and bold leader who embodies the American dream of freedom and equal opportunity for all.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Senator Rubio is uniquely qualified to lead our nation with conviction and courage to tackle the pressing issues of our time, whether it’s strengthening our military, ensuring the safety of our people, or lifting the weight of government from our shoulders.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“We think that excellence in investing comes from focus.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“There will come a time and place it will be appropriate for us to consider going public.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I’m the CEO; I’m the one who should be looking out for risk.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“It’s a winner-take-all world.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“It’s important for me to be No. 1.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“When you read that UBS did not even view parts of its mortgage portfolio as having market risk, it becomes very obvious that a number of firms were not dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s when it comes to risk management.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Walk across any of the trading floors – they are full of 29-year-old kids. The capital markets of America are controlled by a bunch of right-out-of-business-school young guys who haven’t really seen that much.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“The investment banks should either choose to be regulated as banks or should arrange to conduct their affairs to not require the stop-gap support of the Federal Reserve.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“Our financial markets work best when they are competitive, fair, and transparent.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“The idea that the largest banks in the world would simultaneously fail, need government support, government guarantees, and/or government intervention to survive was not in my range of realistic scenarios.”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
“I get very worried that people that are buying bitcoins don’t really understand what they’re participating in other than the headline stories that it keeps going higher and ‘I want to make sure I don’t miss this opportunity to make some money.’”
― Kenneth C. Griffin
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