Enron Quotes

You don't want another Enron? Here's your law: If a company, can't explain, in one sentence, what it does... it's illegal. (Lewis Black)

The collapse of Enron was devastating to tens of thousands of people and shook the public's confidence in corporate America.

Robert Mueller

I think that the failures of Enron and WorldCom and other companies are partially failures of investors to recognize companies that are selling for a thousand times nothing, but chances are they may be worth only that.

Arthur Levitt Jr

In the case of Enron, we balance our positions all the time.

Kenneth Lay

But the most important thing is, Enron did not cause the California crisis.

Kenneth Lay

But indeed a market like California is not good for Enron.

Kenneth Lay

We will not rest until the wooden stake is punched through the heart of the Enron lawsuit against us.

Maria Cantwell

Ken Lay has, does and will continue to accept responsibility for the fall of Enron. He was the man at the controls. But failure is not a crime.

Michael Ramsey

You know Texas is - even more now that Enron has bit the dust - it's held up on the back of small businesses.

Rachel Griffiths

Was it appropriate to jail the guys from Enron? ... Was it appropriate to jail people from the cigarette industry who insisted that this addictive product was not addictive, and so on? ... In these cases, for me, as a taxpayer and voter, the introduction of this extreme doubt about climate change is affecting my quality of life as a public citizen. ... That there is a chilling effect on scientists who are in extreme doubt about climate change, I think that is good.

Bill Nye

You've got to give it up for our troops. The mission itself is hard enough, but then there's all sorts of backdoor drafts where they extend their tours, calling up the guard, the reserve; all these Enron accounting tricks so that Rumsfeld doesn't have to admit he got the troop levels wrong, and still they don't bug out. And I see this, and then I watch some reality show, and I see people who are peevish and selfish and greedy and narcissistic and lazy and stupid, and I think to myself, "Why is this first group of people defending this second group of people?" (Bill Maher)

If Enron had been forced to pay cash dividends, it could never have pulled that caper off!

Peter Schiff

Bush began helping Enron in the eighties.

Paul Begala

What Enron was doing, what caused investors to embrace it in a rapture of baffled awe, was hiding debt.

P. J. O'Rourke

People are treating the Stewart case as seriously as Enron when it's really over trivia.

Allan Sloan

I wish I could undo what I did at Enron but I can't. I understand that I deserve punishment. Your honor, I accept the prison sentence that you are about to impose and will serve it without bitterness.

Andrew Fastow

If you look at the great frauds of all time, Enron had that phantom trading floor. What Herbalife has is it has phantom or fictitious customers.

Bill Ackman

Enron and 9/11 marked the end of an era of individual freedom and the beginning of personal responsibility.

Jeffrey R. Immelt

I take full responsibility for what happened at Enron. But saying that, I know in my mind that I did nothing criminal.

Kenneth Lay

I've never commented much about my experience at Enron except to say, when I was there, it was a much more pipeline and asset-oriented company.

Richard Kinder

Because the sad fact is that the Enron Corporation and others manipulated with unfortunately great effect the energy market in the West Coast starting in 2000. (Jay Inslee)

I think everybody is covering their posteriors with the Enron scandal and it was very convenient that Sept. 11 came along to deflect the fact that they should never have been in the White House in the first place. What happened in the election was completely corrupt.

Sandra Bernhard

When Enron collapsed, through court processes, thousands and thousands of emails came out that were internal, and it provided a window into how the whole company was managed. It was all the little decisions that supported the flagrant violations.

Julian Assange

By incentivizing Wall Street players to sniff out inefficient or corrupt companies and bet against them, short-selling acts as a sort of policing system; legal short-sellers have been instrumental in helping expose firms like Enron and WorldCom.

Matt Taibbi

I happen to represent Enron here in Houston. We have many good corporate citizens here in Houston. Enron happened to have been one.

Sheila Jackson Lee