Some of the very best private equity people, in my experience, are people who start out as stock pickers - people who really understood value, how to take a company's financials apart and couple that with good judgment about businesses, macro trends, and where things are going.

Prices are always lower when the troops are in the street.

Don't do something you don't like. Look for a job that makes you excited to get up and go to work everyday.

Generally speaking, you like to dance with the girl that brung you, and if you can't sometimes you have to shoot her.

Nobody in my generation ever started out in private equity. We got there by accident. There was no private equity business - actually, the word didn't even exist - when I started. I got there out of the purest of happenstance and so I think many people find what they really enjoy doing just in that way. So another piece of advice for you is: don't worry too much about what you're going to be doing when you get out of business school - life will come your way.

When governments are selling, you should be buying. And when governments are defaulting, we should look at that as an opportunity.

A good default, like Portugal or Greece, would be very good for the private equity business.