William E. Simon Quotes

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William E. Simon

Profession : Public Servant

Birth : November 27, 1927

I continue to believe that the American people have a love-hate relationship with inflation. They hate inflation but love everything that causes it.

William E. Simon

The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose.

William E. Simon

Infinitely more important than sharing one's material wealth is sharing the wealth of ourselves - our time and energy, our passion and commitment, and, above all, our love.

William E. Simon

The American citizen must be made aware that today a relatively small group of people is proclaiming its purposes to be the will of the People. That elitist approach to government must be repudiated.

William E. Simon

Productivity and the growth of productivity must be the first economic consideration at all times, not the last. That is the source of technological innovation, jobs, and wealth.

William E. Simon

Writing checks for charities is necessary and important. But it can't compare with corporal works of mercy, which are infinitely greater.

William E. Simon

The very nature of the government, and the direction it's been heading in for the past 40 years, is one of contrived government solutions to all the problems in the United States.

William E. Simon

We only have politicians who are concerned with being reelected.

William E. Simon

Disagreement on issues doesn't mean 'dissension.' All it means is that honest men can differ in their approach. You lay out your positions, and president makes a decision.

William E. Simon

Everybody in this society that has been lurching toward socialism and collectivism for 40 years has their hand out. And the propensity of Congress is to spend, spend, elect, elect. That hasn't changed, and it isn't going to change for a long time.

William E. Simon

A tax cut would most certainly be my first choice rather than an increase in federal spending. Those who advocate that fail to see that spending not only continues in subsequent years, but it grows and grows.

William E. Simon

Dad was high society, a big man in town, a 'Who's Who' in New jersey.

William E. Simon

My father's card-playing buddies treated me as a plain, ordinary, commonplace kid destined for mediocrity - or less. I suppose they expected that I would spend my life as a clerk of some sort.

William E. Simon

Work appealed to me; school did not. I was a disinterested, bored student.

William E. Simon

By the mid-1950s, the young bond traders on the Street were becoming more and more of a fraternity. We organized informal luncheons every Thursday in an effort to educate financial writers, who knew next to nothing about municipal bonds.

William E. Simon

Trading demands total concentration and the ability to do several things at once while instantly recalling trading prices from the day, or week, before.

William E. Simon

I sometimes think that the only person fit to inherit wealth is the person who doesn't need an inheritance - the person who would create his own fortune no matter what his start in life - and have come to view inherited wealth as an affliction.

William E. Simon

Pop taught me respect for my fellow man and reverence for my God. He taught me the importance of family and religion.

William E. Simon

While Pop lived his life in comfort, he was always generous to the less fortunate.

William E. Simon

I found that I not only tolerated taking risks, I loved it.

William E. Simon