When employees are happy, they are your very best ambassadors.

Our attitude is that if you hire good people and pay them a fair wage, then good things will happen for the company.

There was a proposal in California that would keep out Wal-Mart but allow Costco. You opposed it. Are you nuts? That's true: I always oppose these kinds of things. Competition makes us better. Some of our best stores have a Sam's Club next door.

You just can't get too focused on worrying about what's going to happen in the next quarter. You have to worry about where the business is headed long-term.

I say at our management conferences that the amount Wal-Mart grows in just one year is the equivalent of Costco's size.

I think the biggest single thing that causes difficulty in the business world is the short-term view. We become obsessed with it. But it forces bad decisions.

It's like heroin: You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way.