Enron Quotes

“In my world, people are always plotting. You
have no idea of all the crimes people in business commit every
day. Like it was nothing. Or there’s a set of special rules for them.
Remember when Bush made that whole speech about ‘corporate
ethics’ last year? What a fraud. You think stuff like Enron or
WorldCom is an aberration? It’s only the tip. Business is a religion.
Probably the only one practiced all over the world.”
― Andrew Vachss, Down Here

“Every coach, every executive, every leader: They all know right from wrong. Even those Enron guys. When someone uncovers a scandal in their company, I don't think they can say, "I didn't know that was going on." They're just saying they're too dumb to do their job! And if they really are too dumb, then why are they getting paid millions of dollars to do it? They know what's going on.”
― Bo Schembechler, Bo's Lasting Lessons: The Legendary Coach Teaches the Timeless Fundamentals of Leadership

“Isn't there a flaw in the logic of that phrase - speak truth to power? It assumes that power doesn't know the truth. But power knows the truth just as well, if not better, than the powerless know the truth. Enron knows what it's doing. We don't have to tell it what it's doing. We have to tell other people what Enron is doing. Similarly, the people who are building the dams know what they're doing. The contractors know how much they're stealing. The bureaucrats know how much they're getting in bribes.
Power knows the truth. There isn't any doubt about that. It is really about telling the story. Good fiction is the truest thing that ever there was. Facts are not necessarily the only truths. Facts can be fiddled with by economists and bankers. There are other kinds of truth. It's about telling the story. As a writer, that's the best thing I can do. It's not just about digging up facts.”
― Arundhati Roy, The Checkbook and the Cruise Missile: Conversations with Arundhati Roy

“There have been some complaints, Vince, that you're not helping people to do transactions. Instead, you're spending all your time acting like cops. We don't need cops, Vince.”
― Jeffrey Skilling CEO of Enron

“I didn’t set out to commit a crime. I certainly didn’t set out to hurt anyone. When I was working at Enron, you know, I was kind of a hero, because I helped the company make its numbers every quarter. And I thought I was doing a good thing. I thought I was smart... but I wasn’t. I wake up every morning, and I take out my prison ID card, which I have with me here today. And it makes certain that I remember all the people. I remember that I harmed so many people in what I did. It encourages me to try to do the little things that I can to make amends for what I did.”
― Andrew Fastow

“Going to prison is terrible. You’re never comfortable. All the talk about ‘Club Fed’ is garbage… You’re surrounded by very violent people, very unstable people. Prisons work hard to make you uncomfortable. But that’s not what’s bad about going to prison. What’s bad about going to prison is that you’re separated from your family.”
― Andrew Fastow

“Indeed, the big brokerage firms tend to avoid standing out from the crowd, downgrading a stock only after its problems have become obvious. In October 2001, fifteen of the seventeen analysts following Enron still had a “buy” or “strong buy” recommendation on the stock even though it had already lost 50 percent of its value in the midst of the company’s accounting scandal.”
― Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—But Some Don't