"Who has done as much as I have? No one has done more in New York than me."
-- Donald Trump
"I love to have enemies. I fight my enemies. I like beating my enemies to the ground."
-- Donald Trump
"My style of dealmaking is quite simple and straightforward. I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I'm after."
-- Donald Trump
"Those who dislike me don't know me, and have never met me. My guess is that they dislike me out of jealousy."
-- Donald Trump
"I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big."
-- Donald Trump
"Nobody pushes me around, you understand? I don't want to do it ((litigation)), but nobody is going to push me around."
-- Donald Trump
"A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation."
-- Donald Trump
Zvoo-o-o-o-o-o-o-OOOOP!!! Donald Trump's helicopter has just taken a sickening dip to one side several hundred feet over the outflowing sludge of New York harbor. When the wind is 30 m.p.h., death suddenly seems like something on which one of Trump's Atlantic City casinos might offer unpleasant odds.
"Is this thing safe?" asks a reporter who has been assigned to find out what makes the billionaire wheeler-dealer the way he is.
"When the Queen of England is over in this country," says Trump, illustrating once again the way he is, "they call my office to find out if they can use the helicopter because it's the safest helicopter."
It is, in fact, a ten-seat French Puma, which Trump bought for $2 million and which he claims is worth $10 million. ("I love the bargain," he says. "I love quality, but I don't believe in paying top price for quality.") It has TRUMP painted in large white letters on its black fuselage, and the entrepreneur uses it to commute at least once a week between New York and Atlantic City.
"But don't you ever get scared?"
"No, I'm a fatalist. I don't think anything scares me. There's no great way to die. My general attitude is to attack life, and you can't attack if you're frightened. Besides, my pilots are the best, and I pay whatever it takes. When it comes to pilots, doctors, accountants, I don't chisel."
"Have you ever thought about psychotherapy?"
"No," says Trump, a little surprised. "I've never felt even close to needing it. I haven't ever felt that I was out of control. I keep busy. I don't have time to think about my problems."
And of course the helicopter duly rights itself and whirs on. It takes only about 40 minutes to reach Atlantic City and land atop Trump's Castle. Trump strides across red carpeting, shaking hands, smiling, very much at home in his castle, one of his many castles.