Back Porch

Venu Krishnamurthy
"It's like picking from the world's biggest box of Lego pieces."

Citigold Wealth Management president, on using Citigroup's own products and services to help high-end customers.

Greg Mitchell
"Sit down and shut up."

President and CEO of First PacTrust Bancorp in Irvine, Calif., offering advice to community bankers who complain about trouble raising capital and suggesting they forgo the pity party in favor of honestly assessing their business strategy.

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi
"I would rather say nothing otherwise I would only have ugly words to say."

Vatican Bank president, on getting fired for neglecting his duties, just a few years after being embroiled in a money-laundering scandal.

George Gleason
"If you own your junk cheap enough, it's a good thing to have junk."

Chairman and CEO at Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., after booking gains on real estate sales.

Jamie Dimon
"Just because we're stupid doesn't mean everybody else was."

JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO, rejecting the notion that its surprise $2 billion trading loss signals a need for tighter regulation.

Terry Connelly
"There is a tendency when you are making money to think you will always make money. How does something get away from you? Because it's working."

Former dean of the Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University in San Francisco and an ex-managing director at Salomon Brothers, on JPMorgan's trading loss.

Arthur Levitt
"It's dreadful for the markets. It's an event with long-lasting negative implications for an industry that can ill afford this kind of blemish, and the last chapter hasn't been written. Nobody looks good here."

Former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, on the mishandling of Facebook's initial public offering by banks and Nasdaq.

Charlie Munger
"I think they're by and large a bunch of ignorant shouting people, and I don't like ignorant shouting."

Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman, on why he disapproves of the Occupy Wall Street movement, even though he favors more extreme financial reform.

Victoria Grant
"The banks and the government have colluded to financially enslave the people of Canada."

12-year-old Canadian in a viral YouTube video of her speech at the Public Banking in America Conference in Philadelphia.