William D. Cohan > Quotes

“In the past, when Michel had been asked about how the firm would manage without the prolific Felix, he would quote Georges Clemenceau, the French World War I leader: “The cemeteries are full of indispensable men.”
― William D. Cohan, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

“John Myers, who spent thirty-seven years at GE, ran its pension fund for years, and sat on the GE Capital board, explained to me the keys to the success of GE Capital: GE’s AAA credit rating, allowing it to borrow money very cheaply. “Banks weren’t even rated AAA at that time,” he said. “We borrowed money cheaper than anyone could.” GE could also use GE Capital to reduce the taxes GE would otherwise pay on earnings from its very profitable industrial businesses. Here’s how that worked: If, say, an airline bought a new jet, it would have an asset that would depreciate over time, and the airline could use the depreciation to reduce its taxable income. But, at that time anyway, most airlines didn’t make much money, if any, so the value of the depreciation deductions was of little use to them. But to GE, the depreciation—the tax deductions—would be very valuable as a way to reduce GE’s pretax income and therefore to pay less in taxes. With that logic, GE Capital would buy the jets, lease them to the airlines at commercially attractive rates, and then use the depreciation on the jets to reduce the pretax income at GE.”
― William D. Cohan, Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon

“Please remember that our time on this Earth is not guaranteed. Please tell those you love that you do. Right now. This very minute. —SOPHIA BUSH”
― William D. Cohan, Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short

“One time, at the final hockey game of his senior year, against rival Beverly at the hockey rink in Lynn, the score was tied at two after regulation. Jack had scored both goals for Salem. The game went into overtime, but shortly thereafter, Jack’s team lost. It was the team’s seventh loss in a row. Jack was pissed. He threw his hockey stick in anger, then skated to get the stick and marched off to the locker room.

Next thing he knew, his mother was in the locker room, too. She bounded right up to him, oblivious to the fact that the guys around her were in various states of undress. She grabbed him by the jersey in front of everyone. “You punk,” she yelled at him. “If you don’t know how to lose, you’ll never know how to win. If you don’t know this, you don’t belong anywhere.” He paused for a moment, recalling the memory. “She was a powerhouse,” he said. “I loved her beyond comprehension.”
― William D. Cohan, Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon

“A committee moves at the speed of its least informed member and too often is used as a way of sharing irresponsibility.”
― William D. Cohan, Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon

“He adored his girls, but he’s French, so he’s, you know, women are there to be dressed and fed and fucked.”
― William D. Cohan, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

“Where Is It Written That To Be Successful In Business You Have To Be Smart?”)”
― William D. Cohan, Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon

“Second, he is credited with almost single-handedly devising the financial rescue package that saved New York City from bankruptcy in 1975, standing tall against President Gerald Ford and his incendiary refusal to help.”
― William D. Cohan, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

“A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March.” —Brutus to Julius Caesar, Act I, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, circa 1600”
― William D. Cohan, House Of Cards: A Tale Of Hubris And Wretched Excess On Wall Street

“You know that I am a great believer that the faults of people are very often more determining than their qualities.”
― William D. Cohan, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

“the famous remark of Hegel that ‘the owl of Minerva takes flight at dusk’”—Hegel’s view that wisdom comes only in hindsight.”
― William D. Cohan, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

“If there must be madness, something may be said for having it on a heroic scale." John Kenneth Galbraith quoted in Money and Power”
― William D. Cohan

“déjà vu all over again.”
― William D. Cohan, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.

“Despite the ongoing risks, during great swaths of its mostly charmed 142 years, Goldman Sachs has been both envied and feared for having the best talent, the best clients, and the best political connections, and for its ability to alchemize them into extreme profitability and market prowess.”
― William D. Cohan, Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World

“He threw his hockey stick in anger, then skated to get the stick and marched off to the locker room. Next thing he knew, his mother was in the locker room, too. She bounded right up to him, oblivious to the fact that the guys around her were in various states of undress. She grabbed him by the jersey in front of everyone. “You punk,” she yelled at him. “If you don’t know how to lose, you’ll never know how to win. If you don’t know this, you don’t belong anywhere.” He paused for a moment, recalling the memory. “She was a powerhouse,” he said. “I loved her beyond comprehension.” She”
― William D. Cohan, Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon

“Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed that “an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.” Emerson”
― William D. Cohan, The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.