Robin Cook's Quotes

There were no international terrorists in Iraq until we went in. It was we who gave the perfect conditions in which Al Qaeda could thrive.

I can't accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support.

Thirty to 40 years ago, most financial decisions were fairly simple.

We're still in the first minutes of the first day of the Internet revolution.

A whole generation of Americans will retire in poverty instead of prosperity, because they simply are not preparing for retirement now.

Be dramatically willing to focus on the customer at all costs, even at the cost of obsoleting your own stuff.

Before 1980, it was basically illegal for U.S. banks to invent new products.

Even some of the greatest technology-led revolutions, or allegedly technology-led, really were only made possible because of trends already present.

Even the once simple home mortgage now has so many flavors and styles and variations that it is difficult for people to make a decision.

Fifty years ago wealth was stored and transmitted physically through gold bars, stock certificates, bank notes, and coins.

Mutual funds were created to make investing easy, so consumers wouldn't have to be burdened with picking individual stocks.

People don't place their trust in government or company pension plans; they have to be self-reliant.

So I think instead of focusing on the competition, focus on the customer.

Technology is similarly just a catalyst at times for fundamental forces already present.

The changing nature of money is only one facet of the financial services revolution.

The current institutionally provided retirement plans will not cover people's needs upon retirement.

Today more people believe in UFOs than believe that Social Security will take care of their retirement.

Well, today people have to be self-reliant if they want a secure retirement income.

QuickBooks - the very fact that we could even dream to make something in the business arena, and that it would then succeed - was a total revolution to me.

Subsequent to the original Quicken, the whole idea that we, as a consumer products company, could actually make business products, that was a whole revolution in our thinking.