I love picking people. I started Blackstone, and we had no people, and now we have with our portfolio companies about 750,000 people all over the world. Everybody who is at a senior level has ultimately been picked by me.

I don't feel like a wealthy person. Other people think of me as a wealthy person, but I don't. I feel the same as when I was a fifth-year associate trying to make partner at Lehman Brothers. I haven't changed.

Down cycles are not fun. But they form the basis for enormous future profitability

It's wonderful to learn about new cultures and to be able to travel easily to so many countries.

My personal taxes are 53% of my taxable income. That's 36% on the federal level and 17% for state and local.

My biggest job really is to figure other people out. I need to understand what makes a person tick.

I'm not feeling undertaxed. Tax reform is an important issue. You have to have an inherent sense of fairness.