Donald Trump in The Art of the Deal

On Principles & Values: I play to people's fantasies to Think Big

"The key to the way I promote is bravado," he wrote in "Trump: The Art of the Deal," his best -selling book. "I play to people's fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts."

Donald Trump was determined to do whatever it took to "be a killer," as his father had repeatedly insisted. While working on his first hotel project in 1976, Trump persuaded a New York Times reporter to profile him as "a major New York builder," even though he had never built a thing and had no financing.

On Jobs: First Atlantic City casino ever finished on-time & on-budget

The second way we saved money was by producing very complete plans, so that contractors could bid on every aspect of the job.

The final thing that helped us keep costs down the state of the construction industry in Atlantic City in the spring of 1982. Thousands of local construction workers were either out of work or about to be. That gave us a lot of leverage with contractors. I wasn't looking to force these guys to make such bad deals that they'd lose money. On the other hand, I was in a position to negotiate very reasonable prices.

I got the building finished right on schedule. It represented the first casino-hotel in Atlantic City ever built on time and on budget.

On Principles & Values: You can't con people for long; you have to deliver the goods

I think of Jimmy Carter. As poorly qualified as he was for the job, Jimmy Carter had the nerve to ask for something extraordinary. That ability above all helped him get elected president. But then, of course, the American people caught on that Carter couldn't do the job, and he lost in a landslide when he ran for reelection.

I see the same thing in my business, which is full of people who talk a good game but don't deliver. When Trump Tower became successful, a lot of developers got the idea of imitating our atrium. But they saw that it all added up to many millions, and these people with great ambitions would decide [against it].

The dollar always talks in the end. I promoted the hell out of Trump Tower, but I also had a great product to promote.

On Budget & Economy: Rent control only benefits a privileged minority

Rent control is a disaster for all but the privileged minority who are protected by it. As much as any other single factor, rent control is responsible for the desperate housing crisis that has plagued NYC for the past 20 years. Like a lot of failed government programs, rent control grew out of a decent idea that ended up achieving exactly the opposite of its intended effect.

Unlike most developers, I don’t advocate eliminating rent control. I just think there ought to be a means test for anyone living in a rent-controlled apartment. People with incomes above a certain sum would be given a choice between paying a proportionally higher rent for their apartment or moving somewhere else.

On Government Reform: Rebuilt Wollman Rink in 4 months; city failed for 6 years

I discovered that the city’s incompetence had extended to every imaginable detail, large and small. One week after I’d made my deal to take over rebuilding the rink, a city report was released on mistakes made over the past six years. The report provided an astounding chronology of sloppiness, indecision, incompetence, and stupidity, but it came to absolutely no conclusions about who was responsible for the fiasco and what could be done to avoid such failures in the future. If it weren’t so pathetic, it would have been almost comical.