I was once ask if a big business man ever reached his objective. I replied that if a man ever reached his objective he was not a big business man.

The man who has done less than his best has done nothing.

I quickly learned that if I kept at it and plowed right through the rejections I would eventually get somebody to buy my wares.

Many times I can see a solution to something differently and quicker than other people. I see the end zone and say ‘This is where I want to go.’

Nobody wants to be passive; indexing is not passive – much more goes into indexing than watching a stock become the next buggy whip.

The word passive does a disservice to investors considering their options. Indexing provides an effective means of owning the market and allows investors to participate in the returns of a basket of stocks. The basket of stocks changes over time as stocks are added or removed based on its rules.

At the end of every day, having a clientele that speaks well of you, that’s the largest source of business. I don’t care what kind of business you’re in. Clients referring us to their friends or relatives is so much more powerful than any advertising we could ever do.

I am like a chief. I like to taste the food. If it tastes bad, I don’t serve it. I’m constantly monitoring what we do, and I’m always looking for better ways we can provide financial services, ways that would make me happy if I were a client.

I couldn’t read. I just scraped by. My solution back then was to read classic comic books because I could figure them out from the context of the pictures. Now I listen to books on tape.

I did as much as I could: raising chickens, pushing an ice-cream cart, bagging walnuts, driving a tractor on a beet farm, working on the railroad. I think this eclectic career helped me a lot in life.