Vagit Alekperov Quotes

When someone gets a job, it better be clear what they did to get it.

In nominating young women and men to our service academies, it must only be about who you are, not who you know.

The state is not a supernatural being; it is the organised host of politicians, leaders and officials backed by armed force

What is Aristocracy? A corporation of the best, the bravest.

Politicians only get to the top because they have no qualifications to detain them at the bottom.

The average American is more focused on leadership than likeability. And more focused on qualifications than quality of speakership.

The Cold War did end in the victory of one side and in the defeat of the other. This reality cannot be denied, despite the understandable sensitivities that such a conclusion provokes among the tenderhearted in the West and some of the former leaders of the defeated side.

If you don't deserve to play, you won't play.

Hollywood is a whole other level of crazy. I've never met so many assistants who have assistants. It's a stratified society on its own.

I didn't have any idea what politics was like. I was surprised at how difficult it is to get something done. In the private world, if I have an idea, I just do it.

When I entered the film school at the Prague Academy in the '50s, it was the hardest time in the Communist countries. The ideological control of the society was almost absolute.

In California, we've had a series of millionaires and billionaires and CEOs and movie stars. We need to take a hard look at how we define legitimate and credible candidates.

It is not about gender, it is about experience, leadership, and vision.

Stalin is a shameful stain on our country's history.

I don't believe in dynasties; I don't believe in coronations. That is not how it works in this country.

It is not a shocker to me that a film went out of my hands, not because I was not credible, but because I was not so-and-so's daughter or sister or dating so-and-so.

The Indian government is extraordinarily large, and it is difficult to try and believe that one leader can make all the change. This is a federal system.

If somebody were more passionate about Redfin, how would she not be more qualified to have my job than I am? Like, that's the thing I have to be the best at.

I have experience at every position... I think that's a plus for me.

The goals of Russia since 1917 have been to destroy capitalism, discredit democracy, and show that Communist collectivism was the greatest social and political system in the world.

I think that Russia was like a lot of other countries, a lot of empires, in being a tyranny up until the early 20th century. Then Russia had something that no other country has had, which is the longest totalitarian experiment in history.

What is competent? Who is it that can adjudicate what is competent or not competent? If the guys that are running the most important banks in our country aren't competent enough, well then, who is competent enough?

Am I here because of my last name? To a degree. But I would ask people to judge me and my executive team on what we accomplish.

Government is not a game show, though at times it is amusing and entertaining to watch.

When the USSR collapsed, I was 11, and unlike many people, I don't miss it.