David Rubenstein Quotes

• Persist - don't take no for an answer. If you're happy to sit at your desk and not take any risk, you'll be sitting at your desk for the next 20 years.

  David Rubenstein

  Money, Years, Risk

  52 Copy quote

• The world is a complicated place, and there's a lot of division between people. The performing arts tend to unify people in a way nothing else does.

  David Rubenstein

  Art, People, Theatre

  16 Copy quote

• People used to think that private equity was basically just a compensation scheme, but it is much more about making companies more efficient.

  David Rubenstein

  Thinking, People, Used

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• You can only do three things with your money. You can spend it. You can invest it. Or you can give it away. And if you invest it, you're really just getting more money to give away or buy something. How many things can you buy? So I don't really think there's a lot of choices.

  David Rubenstein

  Thinking, Giving, Choices

  8 Copy quote

• It's clear to me when you do private equity well, you're making companies more efficient and helping them grow and become more profitable. That success means our investors - such as public pension funds - benefit, which contributes to the economic wealth of society.

  David Rubenstein

  Mean, Benefits, Helping

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• Moneymaking was never anything to me. I was happy never making money; I just was happy doing things I liked. But I fell into the money thing. I now don't feel guilty about it, but I am determined to give away the bulk of it and enjoy doing it.

  David Rubenstein

  Giving, Determined, Making Money

  4 Copy quote

• What do most people say on their deathbed? They don't say, 'I wish I'd made more money.' What they say is, 'I wish I'd spent more time with my family and done more for society or my community.

  David Rubenstein

  People, Community, Wish

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• Sometimes the best decisions in life are on the spur of the moment. So I generally try to do what I think is right. And sometimes I make mistakes.

  David Rubenstein

  Mistake, Thinking, Decision

  "All-American" with Morley Safer, www.cbsnews.com. May 3, 2015.

  5 Copy quote

• I really hope that the philanthropy movement is seen not just as wealthy people giving money away but wealthy people giving away their time, their energy and their ideas.

  David Rubenstein

  Ideas, Giving Money, People

  6 Copy quote

• I'm blessed by the fact I only need five hours of sleep on a daily basis. I do tend to regard Saturday and Sunday as work days.

  David Rubenstein

  Blessed, Sleep, Sunday

  5 Copy quote

• Do not always say no. If satisfied with the seat in place and not reckless, the next 20 years you will still sit there alone

  David Rubenstein

  Years, Next, Reckless

  4 Copy quote

• I realised how rich I had become and I asked myself, 'Do I really want to be the richest person in the cemetery?

  David Rubenstein

  Want, Rich, Cemetery

  5 Copy quote

• I think it's a little unfair for people to say you're not paying your fair share of taxes. I'm paying what I'm supposed to pay. Change the law, and I'll pay what I'm supposed to pay.

  David Rubenstein

  Thinking, Law, People

  4 Copy quote

• I give away about 50 percent of my income, so my, you know, desire to give back to the country is pretty strong and I intend to give away a lot more. I've signed the giving pledge with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and I intend to give away the bulk of my money.

  David Rubenstein

  Country, Strong, Giving

  7 Copy quote

• Anybody who gives away money is mostly looking at things where they think they can make a difference. I'm trying to help people who helped me, educational institutions that helped me with scholarships, or organizations that were very useful to me in growing up.

  David Rubenstein

  Growing Up, Educational, Thinking

  7 Copy quote

• I regard food as fuel. I am not a brunch person.

  David Rubenstein

  Fuel, Brunch, Persons

  6 Copy quote

• All I'm doing is I'm filling out my tax returns - or my accountants are, and I'm paying whatever I'm supposed to pay, though I'm giving away a large amount of the money and that probably lowers my tax rate because I'm giving away so much money. But change the law, but don't blame me for the law. I'm not writing the law. I didn't write the law.

  David Rubenstein

  Writing, Law, Giving

  4 Copy quote

• I don't really try to get involved politically by giving money to politicians or by saying I'm a Democrat or Republican. Right now, I just view myself as an American.

  David Rubenstein

  Views, Giving Money, Trying

  "The Billionaires’ Loophole" by Alec MacGillis, www.newyorker.com. March 14, 2016.

  4 Copy quote

• I'm on a lot of nonprofit boards, but if I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't do it. I haven't yet done anything that's transformational in philanthropy. But I hope at some point to target two or three causes or organizations and really make transformational gifts.

  David Rubenstein

  Organization, Two, Causes

  4 Copy quote

• I am involved in a lot of nonprofits. And when I reached the ripe old age of 60, I wanted to provide leadership to some I had been involved in.

  David Rubenstein

  Age, Nonprofits, Wanted

  6 Copy quote

• My work life is intense. But I love what I do.

  David Rubenstein

  Life Is, Intense

  4 Copy quote

• When I worked in the White House for President Carter, we tried to do comprehensive tax reform and we made some progress, and other presidents have as well.

  David Rubenstein

  White, House, President

  10 Copy quote

• Obama had reached out to the business community, they just haven't liked all of his decisions and some of his rhetoric. But generally, I think the administration is quite open and accessible.

  David Rubenstein

  Thinking, Community, Decision

  4 Copy quote

• My father worked in a post office and never made probably more than $8,000 a year as an employee of the post office, so when people can rise up from very modest circumstances and do well economically, I think that's a good thing about America, and we should encourage that kind of activity.

  David Rubenstein

  Father, Thinking, America

  4 Copy quote

• For me, few things are more compelling than watching a great opera.

  David Rubenstein

  Opera, Compelling

  4 Copy quote

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