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.

It doesn't do Costco any good if nobody can afford to buy anything.

If somehow a proclamation were made that C.E.O.'s could only make a maximum of $300,000 a year, you would not have any shortage of very qualified men and women seeking the jobs.

If we take care of the business and keep our eye on the goal line, the stock price will take care of itself.

In the final analysis, you get what you pay for.

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.

Technology helps us become more efficient and productive but our business still has a lot of art as opposed to strictly science.