It doesn't do much good to have a quality image, whether it's with the facility or whether it's with the merchandise, if you don't have real quality people taking care of your customers.

Paying good wages is not in opposition to good productivity.

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.

Obscene salaries send the wrong message through a company.

You don't have a very motivated working class, it starts to affect the dynamics of the economy. If workers are disenchanted and disenfranchised, productivity losses will go along with that.

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

If you've got to work for the rest of your life, you'd better do something you'll enjoy.