A Few Good (Exxon) Men
Son, we live in a world that has cars and those cars need to be driven by men with oil. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Prius-driving dick? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for the environment and curse fossil fuel; you have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that natural resources' death, while tragic, probably saved money and that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves money.

You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties you want me on that Green shit, you need me on that Green shit. We use words like economical, practial, SUVs. We use them as the backbone of a life trying to get rich. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very natural gas I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you," and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest that you pick up a hose of unleaded and start pumping. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Braveheart
Big Vik: I am Vikram Pandit. And, I see a whole army of my Bankers and Trades, here in defiance of TARP tyranny. You've come to fight as financiers, and financiers you are. What will you do without finance?! Will you fight?

Scared Analyst: No . . . we will run . . . and we will be consultants.

Big Vik: Aye. Fight and you may be poor. Run and you'll be in consulting, at least a while. And, dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance -- just one chance -- to come back here and tell Tim Geithner, that they may take our bonuses, but they'll never take our tier 1 ratio!

Independence Day
In less than an hour, traders from here will join others from around the world. And, you will be launching the largest electronic naked-short in the history of a Bulge Bracket. "Bulge Braket," those words should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interest in ROI. Perhaps, it's fate that today is the Sixteenth of September, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom--not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but from margin calls and being poor. We're fighting for our right to collect bonuses--to buy nice shit. And, should we win the day, the Sixteenth of September will no longer be known as the end of investment banking, but as the day when the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night. We will not vanish, without a fight. We're going to short the fuck out of Lehman. We're going to get rich first. Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!"