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We buy and sell goods. We buy low and sell higher - that's what we all do to make a profit. But I consider a merchant someone who has a certain intuition and instinct, and - very important - knows how to run a business, knows the numbers.

A merchant is someone who figures out how to select, how to smell, how to identify, how to feel, how to time, how to buy, how to sell, and how to hopefully have two plus two equal six.

The thought in my mind was that I must be a good merchant. If I were a good merchant, the rest would probably take care of itself.

The one knowing what is profitable, and not the man knowing many things, is wise.

I'm a businessman, and what I know is numbers and business.

What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed?

I don't really count myself as a very sophisticated businessperson. I'm a creative artist. All I know from business I've picked up along the way.

I have always been a business person.

My father was a guy who, because of the businesses he was in - the hotel business, the hospitality business - he didn't differentiate between the waiter serving you dinner, from the maitre d from the guy who owns a restaurant. Everybody was the same to him. He didn't look at who you were. He didn't look at your wallet.

I take jobs with people I admire, people with incredible talent who aren't necessarily big sellers.