Carl Icahn Quotes

#1. Don't go in and tell somebody else how to run their business.

Carl Icahn

#2. Had a nice conversation with Tim Cook today. Discussed my opinion that a larger buyback should be done now. We plan to speak again shortly.

Carl Icahn

#3. I have to look out for the shareholder's interests, and I'm the largest shareholder.

Carl Icahn

#4. In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. The first is to act precipitously without thought and the second is to not act at all.

Carl Icahn

#5. Don't confuse luck with skill when judging others, and especially when judging yourself.

Carl Icahn

#6. You learn in this business: It you want a friend, get a dog.

Carl Icahn

#7. Anyone that makes me a quarter of a billion dollars, I like.

Carl Icahn

#8. You learn in this business.. If you want a friend, get a dog.

Carl Icahn

#9. We want these assets to be productive. We buy them. We own them. To say we care only about the short term is wrong. What I care about is seeing these assets in the best hands

Carl Icahn

#10. Everything I have is for sale, except for my kids and possibly my wife.

Carl Icahn

#11. CEOs are paid for doing a terrible job. If the system wasn't so messed up, guys like me wouldn't make this kind of money.

Carl Icahn

#12. My wife watches me like a hawk.

Carl Icahn

#13. In 2008, people who invested in hedge funds needed capital badly, but many of the funds would not return their money. However, I gave money back to any investor who requested it. It was the bottom of the market and a pretty tough time.

Carl Icahn

#14. With some exceptions, the wrong people are running U.S. companies. It's been that way for years, and it hasn't gotten much better.

Carl Icahn

#15. I'm no robin hood, I enjoy making the money.

Carl Icahn

#16. I can tell you how bad our boards are ... I don't have to watch Saturday Night Live anymore; I just go to the board meetings.

Carl Icahn

#17. A lot of people died fighting tyranny. The least I can do is vote against it.

Carl Icahn

#18. Reuters was completely accurate that I am concerned about the level of the market. But I also made it clear on the conference call (and I believe as Reuters reported it), that it is almost impossible to predict what a market will do in the short term. There are too many variables.

Carl Icahn

#19. We have bloated bureaucracies in Corporate America. The root of the problem is the absence of real corporate democracy.

Carl Icahn

#20. I'm a cynic about corporate democracy and boards.

Carl Icahn

#21. I enjoy the hunt much more than the 'good life' after the victory.

Carl Icahn

#22. A great company in the media business needs visionary leaders, not a conglomerate structure headquartered in Columbus Circle that second guesses.

Carl Icahn

#23. Yellen's comments suggest, and I agree, that we are in an asset bubble.

Carl Icahn

#24. When friends and acquaintances are telling you that you are a genius, before you accept their opinion, take a moment to remember what you always thought of their opinions in the past.

Carl Icahn

#25. I like winning. There's also a certain joy in it. I feel fulfilled by it.

Carl Icahn

#26. When you have no one to answer to, vendetta as investment strategy is as legitimate as anything.

Carl Icahn

#27. When most investors, including the pros, all agree on something, they're usually wrong.

Carl Icahn

#28. I believe there are and will be major opportunities to enhance Time Warner's value in future combinations.

Carl Icahn

#29. And I'm convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you can work with the unions because the unions want to survive. If they are confronted simply with the question: "Do you want this company to survive or do you want it to be broken up?" they will listen. It's their livelihood.

Carl Icahn