Henry Paulson Quotes

Any investment bought via credit always runs the risk of margin calls and, eventually, liquidation.

My investments have been hurt.

Foreclosures are a significant problem; they're an economic problem.

Foreclosure is nothing new. And it certainly will always be a fact of life for some.

Don't try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.

One of my first investments was $100,000 in a Web-based calendar startup - and I lost every dollar.

I was so in debt by the end of 'Dust Devil,' having picked up the tab personally for the post-production of the movie, and having no way to recoup because I didn't own the rights to the movie. There was no way I could see any money back on it, so any money spent was just a dead loss.

In 1958, my father invested everything he had in a business venture and became the largest automobile dealership in Chicago for Ford's new Edsel line. But Edsel sales plummeted and my father fell into bankruptcy. I watched him struggle; working long hours to protect us from poverty.

We would be billionaires, but we took responsibility for Summa's failure.

I feel somewhat responsible for the Borders Books bankruptcy.

If I finance a bank and I know if the bank will get in trouble, I will be hit and I will lose money, I will put a price on that.

One thing about the business and investing world that I connect to very intimately is that there is little room to deny the harsh realities of your mistakes. A bad call can lose you many millions.

We sunk everything into it. It came close to going under several times.

Housing was ground zero for the Great Recession. Between early 2006 and Obama's inauguration in 2009, average house prices fell by a third across the country. In certain areas, including cities as diverse as Akron, Orlando and Las Vegas, house prices fell by more than half.

I might make an investment and lose some money, but that's something I can recover from.

A decline in the national housing price level would need to be substantial to trigger a significant rise in foreclosures.

When I was young and foolish, and I had no money, I bought myself the carcass of a Jaguar E-Type. It was a rust bucket. I spent all my university savings trying to fix the car. I never did, and I finally sold it to recover at least part of my investment.

What began as a subprime lending problem has spread to other, less risky mortgages and contributed to excess home inventories that have pushed down home prices for responsible homeowners.

Morality aside, there are other factors deterring 'strategic defaults,' whether in recourse or nonrecourse states. These include the economic and emotional costs of giving up one's home and moving, the perceived social stigma of defaulting, and a serious hit to a borrower's credit rating.

There's no enjoyment to losing money.

Remnants of the foreclosure crisis linger everywhere.

I lost my computer business when I was 29 because I gave credit to firms I didn't investigate. I lost my house and had to move back in with my parents and then I lived in an office for six months.

I had a couple of investments that didn't go my way. That's why I laugh at guys who say, 'Oh, I'm going to open a clothing line. I'm going to start a restaurant.'

If you lose 50%, it takes 100% to get back to where you started-and that takes something you can never get back: time.

There is no such thing as a paper loss. A paper loss is a very real loss.