John Catsimatidis Quotes

There are two New Yorks - Manhattan and everything else. I'm a Manhattanite. I feel sorry for those people who aren't.

- John Catsimatidis

America always recovers.

- John Catsimatidis

We have to draw the line someplace with all the pesticides being used by the farmers.

- John Catsimatidis

One mentor I had taught me that people do what you inspect, not necessarily what you expect. In other words, if nobody is watching, there will be some slack off.

- John Catsimatidis

All my life, I've been winning, ok?

- John Catsimatidis

I have a love factor with the minorities.

- John Catsimatidis

I am a real New Yorker... I didn't go to Harvard, I didn't go to Yale... I rooted for the Yankees; I didn't root for the Boston Red Sox.

- John Catsimatidis

What's worse than getting divorced?

- John Catsimatidis

It seems everyone knows the value of a cantaloupe or a quart of milk.

- John Catsimatidis

When the commodities go up and the cost of transportation is going up, and the value of the dollar is going down, it's all going to translate to an 8 to 10 percent rise in food prices.

- John Catsimatidis

I believe business has to do well and that the surrounding communities do well.

- John Catsimatidis

I'm the same businessman Donald Trump is.

- John Catsimatidis

The Fresh Direct model doesn't work.

- John Catsimatidis

I was a Clinton Democrat for twenty years.

- John Catsimatidis

I started in the supermarket business in the early '70s. And by '75, '76, I realized you don't have a business unless you own the real estate.

- John Catsimatidis

The reason I grew so fast in the supermarket business, without help of the banks in those days, was through my vendors. I convinced my vendors, the companies I was doing business with, if I did more business, they would do more business.

- John Catsimatidis

I believe that all people that are successful should pay back their cities, their states, their towns, our country.

- John Catsimatidis

Everyone - whether it's the Jews, the Greeks, the Catholics - everybody is entitled to religious beliefs and entitled to their traditions.

- John Catsimatidis

I'm a visionary. I'm not a maintenance person.

- John Catsimatidis

I'm not a Johnny-come-lately Jew. I've been around. I watch out for the Jews; I watch out for the Catholics.

- John Catsimatidis

Bill Clinton told me that when he was 14, he shook John Kennedy's hand, and that inspired him to be president.

- John Catsimatidis

I'm not ashamed of being successful. You know, they criticized Romney for being ashamed of it. I think we've got to inspire our kids that we shouldn't be ashamed to be successful.

- John Catsimatidis

People tell me, 'You better lose weight if you want to run for mayor.' I said, 'I got the Chris Christie look.'

- John Catsimatidis

I promoted myself as a fusion ticket. I was running as a Republican liberal.

- John Catsimatidis

I care about making New York better.

- John Catsimatidis

Anytime you cut food stamps, it naturally affects sales. People spend less.

- John Catsimatidis

I think New York is destined to have a Democratic mayor, and I want Freddy Ferrer to be that mayor.

- John Catsimatidis

New York never felt the recession. New York never felt a depression.

- John Catsimatidis

As mayor, I would support law enforcement, not knock it down.

- John Catsimatidis

It is tough that a lot of kids have single-family homes.

- John Catsimatidis

It will be almost impossible for any other candidate to raise the money that the Clintons can raise.

- John Catsimatidis

Nobody destroys people - people destroy themselves, and it's very, very sad.

- John Catsimatidis

I respect John Kennedy for saying that he had a dream that we'd go to the moon before the end of the decade.

- John Catsimatidis

I could be like Joe Kennedy and say, 'My kids are going to run for president!'

- John Catsimatidis

Am I a Republican? Yes. Am I a Democrat? Yes. Am I a conservative? Yes. Am I a liberal? Yes.

- John Catsimatidis

I put $5 million into the real-estate business when the world was coming to an end, and three years later, by 1980, I woke up and was worth a hundred. That's a lot of money back then.

- John Catsimatidis

Americans like buying American vs. buying from Chavez or buying from the Middle East.

- John Catsimatidis

I'm not a Mike Bloomberg billionaire.

- John Catsimatidis

I'm a Bill Clinton social Republican.

- John Catsimatidis

I grew up on 135th Street. I grew up on the poor side of New York. I grew up in Harlem.

- John Catsimatidis

Grocery stores can't afford to pay $80 a square foot. At that rate, we are going out of business.

- John Catsimatidis

I made a ton of money.

- John Catsimatidis

New York is for everybody; it's for the poor, it's for the middle-class, it's for the wealthy. We can't punish any one group and chase them away.

- John Catsimatidis

While in my late teens and in my 20s, I worked seven days a week, 20 hours a day. I worked my tail off.

- John Catsimatidis

I could have beat Obama.

- John Catsimatidis

I was a Mitt Romney Republican because he was pro-business.

- John Catsimatidis

What transpired at Semgroup was no less than a $500 billion fraud on the people of the world.

- John Catsimatidis

I want to inspire people.

- John Catsimatidis

My father died in '97. But at least he lived until 93, so he saw my success.

- John Catsimatidis

I'm a New York businessman.

- John Catsimatidis

We are teaching kids to fail. We need to teach our kids to succeed.

- John Catsimatidis

I just want to reflect the respect I have for animals.

- John Catsimatidis

I think the rich should pay more in taxes - I agree with that 100 percent - but everybody should feel the pain a little bit.

- John Catsimatidis

The media doesn't always reflect reality.

- John Catsimatidis

Material things don't matter.

- John Catsimatidis

Pizza is no longer on my diet.

- John Catsimatidis