Carl Icahn Quotes

“A great company in the media business needs visionary leaders, not a conglomerate structure headquartered in Columbus Circle that second guesses.”

“A lot of people died fighting tyranny. The least I can do is vote against it.”

“Anyone that makes me a quarter of a billion dollars, I like.”

“CEOs are paid for doing a terrible job. If the system wasn't so messed up, guys like me wouldn't make this kind of money.”

“Don't confuse luck with skill when judging others, and especially when judging yourself.”

“Don't go in and tell somebody else how to run their business.”

“Everything I have is for sale, except for my kids and possibly my wife.”

“I can tell you how bad our boards are... I don't have to watch Saturday Night Live anymore; I just go to the board meetings.”

“I enjoy the hunt much more than the ‘good life’ after the victory.”

“I have to look out for the shareholder’s interests, and I’m the largest shareholder.”

“I like winning. There's also a certain joy in it. I feel fulfilled by it.”

“I'm convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you can work with the unions because the unions want to survive. If they are confronted simply with the question: "Do you want this company to survive or do you want it to be broken up?" they will listen. It's their livelihood.”

“I'm no Robin Hood, I enjoy making the money.”

“Im a cynic about corporate democracy and boards.”

“In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act precipitously without thought and the second is to not act at all.”

“In risk there is reward…”

“Keep your head when all those around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.”

“My wife watches me like a hawk.”

“Now the guy that got to the top, the CEO, would obviously be stupid to have a number two guy who was a lot smarter than he is.

So by definition, since he's a survivor and he got to the top and he isn't that brilliant, his number two guy is going to always be a little worse than he is. So, as time goes on, it's anti-Darwinism, the survival of the un-fittest.”

“Reuters was completely accurate that I am concerned about the level of the market. But I also made it clear on the conference call, that it is almost impossible to predict what a market will do in the short term. There are too many variables.”

“Some people get rich studying artificial intelligence. Me, I make money studying natural stupidity.”

“The cardinal rule is to have enough capital at the end of the day.”

“The CEO is, by far, the most important decision for a company... The company is going to rise and fall with the CEO.”

“Too often it's not the most creative guys or the smartest. Instead, it's the ones who are best at playing politics and soft-soaping their bosses. Boards don't like tough, abrasive guys.”

“We have bloated bureaucracies in Corporate America. The root of the problem is the absence of real corporate democracy.”

“We want these assets to be productive. We buy them. We own them.

To say we care only about the short term is wrong. What I care about is seeing these assets in the best hands.”

“We're not about liquidating companies, but if you do that, why is that terrible? We're not blowing up the factories. The person who buys it should be able to make the asset more productive.”

“When friends and acquaintances are telling you that you are a genius, before you accept their opinion, take a moment to remember what you always thought of their opinions in the past.”

“When most investors, including the pros, all agree on something, they're usually wrong.”

“When nobody wants something, that creates an opportunity.”