Businesspeople From Montreal

"I am 83 this year and after a lifetime of Jewish activism, I have determined that what I hold to be the greatest Jewish value is our ability to question.”"

"I’ve found that volunteer work can enrich one’s life providing balance and perspective. Indeed, the WJC was probably the most important thing to me outside of Seagram, offering a chance to develop aspects of my personality.”"

"Exploring Israel's meaning to you, as an American and as a Jew, is to firmly lock yourself onto the chain of thousands of years of Jewish history, and also claim your legacy as an American who is blessed to live in a land of freedom.”"

"I have found philanthropy deeply satisfying work. I encourage all people to engage in giving to others, be it through time or money. The point is to be involved. Helping is a joyful experience and enriches the giver as much as those who receive. By enabling people to do good work, I participate in a brighter future for the Jewish people and, I hope, all of humanity.”"

"We need to restrain ourselves in what we say about other religions, in how we judge other faiths. We don't need new laws. We cannot restrict freedom of speech. We need to restrict ourselves. Otherwise, in the end, we will be restricted.”"

"The causes of Jewish renaissance and pluralism inform much of my work. My goal is to build a Jewish future by working to form a knowledgeable, proud and welcoming Jewish community throughout the world.” – Giving Pledge."

"In my personal and professional Jewish life, my belief is that we must educate ourselves before we can reach out to others.”"

"Curiosity and openness to new ways of thinking ensures future success more than any other quality. Learn, read, question, think. In developing the ability to exercise those traits, you will not only be successful in business, but in the business of life.”"

"I have learned that success in business, and perhaps in most aspects of life, requires both self-discipline and objectively imposed discipline from outside.’"

"Our community can’t stake its future on telling young people whom they should or should not marry. The goal of outreach work should not be convincing Jews why they should marry other Jews. Outreach work should instead be about making Judaism relevant and providing substantive educational opportunities.”"

"As a Jew who does not believe in God, but very strongly believes in Jewish peoplehood, the idea of a prayer or blessing does not resonate in a traditional sense. For me, a blessing is a statement of intention of purpose and an expression of gratitude.”"

"I spent my entire career in business, and was fortunate to experience success. Essential to my success, however, was the fact that I was engaged in the larger world around me as a curious person who wanted to learn. I did not rely only on business perspectives. In fact, it was a drive to understand and enjoy life -- and be connected to something larger than myself in my love of reading, learning, and in my case, studying and learning about Judaism -- that allows me, at 84, to see my life as fully rounded."

"To turn $100 into $110 is work. To turn $100 million into $110 million is inevitable."

"There is nothing that makes the mind more elastic and expandable than discovering how the world works. Developing and rewarding curiosity will be where innovation finds its future."

"True learning comes from engaging in discourse with those who are profoundly different. Your mind may not be swayed, but the interaction should open up your eyes."

"I am not beholden to a Jewish tradition based on divine law and belief, but rather see Judaism as a golden heritage of rigorous inquiry, wisdom and discussion of the human condition which offers me profound wisdom and guidance in how I live my life."

"In terms of defending Jews, I'm a Jew, and I was in a position to do so, so I did."

"Those who would retain his services should confine him to subjects better suited…to his sniggering, puerile, defamatory and cruelly limited talents."

"Black condemned the 1966 decision made by Harold Wilson to pull out of the Persian Gulf and scrap the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers. He regarded the resignation of Christopher Mayhew, Minister of Defence for the Navy as "the last resonance of good sense in that country until Maggie Thatcher came in.""

"Perhaps Archbishop Paul-Émile Léger suffered from what they call in French a taste for the sensational. He was like one of those matadors who, as the cadence of the oles gets more and more rapid, are always trying to find something more daring to do. He grew hasty in his desire to produce new spectacles and maybe did a few ill-considered things. But on the whole I remain impressed with him."

"Having read all the other works on the same subject, including M. Rumilly's recently published effort; having spent innumerable days and evenings in the dusty and poorly-illuminated archival chaos of Maurice Duplessis's basement, and having conscientiously revised the original version of this thesis in conformity with many objections, some of which were uninformed and unjust, I am unpretentiously conscious of presenting herewith the definitive work in its field, in any language."

"The present government of Quebec is the most financially and intellectually corrupt in the history of the province. There are the shady deals, brazenly conducted, and the broken promises, most conspicuously that of last October to retain Bill 63... The government dragged out the ancient and totally fictitious spectre of assimilation to justify Bill 22 and its rejection of the right of free choice in education, its its reduction of English education to the lowest echelon of ministerial whim, its assault upon freedom of expression through the regulation of the internal and external language of businesses and other organizations, and its creation of a fatuous new linguistic bureaucracy that will conduct a system of organized denunciation, harassment, and patronage... There is a paralytic social sickness in Quebec. In all this debate, not a single French Quebecker has objected to Bill 22 on the grounds that it was undemocratic or a reduction of liberties exercised in the province. The Quebec Civil Liberties Union, founded by Pierre Trudeau, from which one might have expected such sentiments, has instead demanded the abolition of English education, and this through the spokemanship of Jean-Louis Roy, who derives his income from McGill University.... It is clear that Mr. Bourassa... is now going to try to eliminate the Parti Quebecois by a policy of gradual scapegoatism directed against the non-French elements in the province... The English community here, still deluding itself with the illusion of Montreal as an incomparably fine place to live, is leaderless and irrelevant, except as the hostage of a dishonest government. Last month one of the most moderate ministers, Guy St-Pierre, told an English businessman's group, 'If you don't like Quebec, you can leave it.' With sadness but with certitude, I accept that choice."

"Bud (McDougald) was a true Darwinist, so in his view, when he died--to the winner should go the spoils. It was a free-for-all. A lot of people, Nelson Davis for one, used to ask me what Bud would have thought of the somewhat unseemly scramble that went on after he died. I suspect it would have flattered him. Had he wanted an orderly succession, he would have organized one. He certainly told Monte and me that he wanted us to take over--but he told a few other people the same thing. Bud was very skillful at presenting the carrot and making sure it wasn't within anyone's grasp."

"All those pent-up forces of envy and disbelief finally showed their true colours instead of masquerading in the deceitful fashion they have used since I took over at Argus... there is something about the Canadian mentality that cannot stand an unbroken string of successes, unless it comes after a long life or after evident ordeal. No one begrudged Terry Fox getting the Order of Canada and no one boos any more when E.P. Taylor wins the Queen's Plate. But present Canadians with too much success too soon and it's just unbearable. That's how it works in this country."

"An overgenerous reinsurance policy for an underachieving people."

"A jumped-up little twerp [and a] prime candidate for exorcism"

"[The] swarming, grunting masses of jackals..."

"The bedraggled warhorse of American blowhardism."

"Like all fads, corporate governance has its zealots"

"Greed has been severely underestimated and denigrated – unfairly so, in my opinion."

"It is galling to see such mendacious hypocrites as Kennedy and Biden at the Senate Judiciary Committee sitting in judgment on distinguished jurists."

"I tended, even from my early years, to look at the world from a slightly different vantage point. Although I might have had trouble articulating it at the age of 10, I wasn't unduly convinced of the durability of the Anglo-Saxon world as we had come to know it in the postwar period, a world of latter-day materialism advancing around the globe on the wongs of the English language and the American dollar. I had a sneaking suspicion that we were living in a bit of a fool's paradise..."

"Since biblical times, and probably before, the wealthy have been envied and condemned."

"We must express the view, based on our empirical observations, that a substantial number of journalists are ignorant, lazy, opinionated, and intellectually dishonest. The profession is heavily cluttered with aged hacks toiling through a miasma of mounting decrepitude and often alcoholism, and even more so with arrogant and abrasive youngsters who substitute 'commitment' for insight."

"I had never heard of [Walter] Young before, and I do not expect to hear from him again."

"How do you think it is on a Jewish mother? It’s horrible for her to see her son facing these accusations."

"I can’t wear any brand on my body - I just freak out. I mean, if I’m with a girl who’s wearing a Christian Dior necklace, I can’t even fuck her. And then there are those girls - like every girl I seem to find - who has one those Louis Vuitton bags. C’mon, it’s fucking false tribalism."

"Look, I spent months in Mexico and the Dominican with subcontractors. I could tell you where all the best fucking bars are in the Dominican. What I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t work. My theory is, and I think I’m right - and I mean you guys had rioters in Montreal a few weeks ago [for the WTO] - is that going offshore is actually more expensive than these guys let on. What I’m going to prove, and I’m going to embarrass the entire fucking establishment, is that sweatshops are more expensive in the end than vertically integrated manufacturing in Canada or the U.S."

"Take one part brilliant entrepreneur, one part narcissist, add in a smattering of Attention Deficit Disorder and a dash of philanthropy and you get Dov Charney."

"If 60 Minutes will not do a story on me, it's their problem not mine. I'm changing the world; they're just reporting on it."

"I made a mistake with these stores; I didn't do it myself and it's wrong. So I've had to let people go and there's nothing I hate more than having to get rid of kids. It breaks their hearts. But you know what? It affects sales. Should garment workers at my factory suffer because we fuck up the casting? What I'm looking for is style--that's not something you can teach a person. You have it or you don't. Let's say one girl has an acne problem but good style, while another one is beautiful but has no style. I'm picking acne!""