I've seen more people fail because of liquor and leverage -- leverage being borrowed money. You really don't need leverage in this world much. If you're smart, you're going to make a lot of money without borrowing.

We've got more productive capacity now than we ever have.

Trust is like the air we breathe--when it's present, nobody really notices; when it's absent, everybody notices.

There is no substitute for a local newspaper that is doing its job.

The most important thing in terms of your circle of competence is not how large the area of it is, but how well you've defined the perimeter.

We set no volume goals in our insurance business generally-and certainly not in reinsurance-as virtually any volume can be achieved if profitability standards are ignored.

I make no effort to predict the course of general business or the stock market. Period. However, currently there are practices snowballing in the security markets and business world which, while devoid of short term predictive value, bother me as to possible long term consequences.