Top 49 Quotes & Sayings by Lawrence Summers

If you look at the history of the American capital market, there's probably no innovation more important than the idea of generally accepted accountancy principles.

You can't have a situation in which companies proceed on a permanent basis relying only on cash from the government.

The dramatic modernization of the Asian economies ranks alongside the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution as one of the most important developments in economic history.

It certainly was difficult to sell NAFTA because it's always difficult to sell open markets.

It was wrong to allow Stalin to shape the European landscape of the 20th century. It would be even more wrong to let him shape the landscape of the 21st century.

We are inheriting the worst financial system since the Depression. We're inheriting a situation - when people go back and study major banking crises a quarter century from now, the one that America developed in 2007 and 2008 is going to be one of those crises.

It says something about this new global economy that USA Today now reports every morning on the day's events in Asian markets.

There are children who are working in textile businesses in Asia who would be prostitutes on the streets if they did not have those jobs.

In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.

The availability of private insurance provides tremendous insulation for millions of individuals.

Start with the idea that you can't repeal the laws of economics. Even if they are inconvenient.

I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to it.

Global capital markets pose the same kinds of problems that jet planes do. They are faster, more comfortable, and they get you where you are going better. But the crashes are much more spectacular.

But ultimately what I was impressed by during my years in government was how much the intellectual climate and the prevailing intellectual notions constrained and represented the universe within which the discourse took place.

I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted.

Contagion has become very much a phenomenon, and it's a phenomenon of globalization.

Many children are taught to believe in God. I came to believe in the power of systems analysis.

I promise you that there are a lot of people involved in various kinds of retail activities who think they have a crucial role in the economy, and they're right.

In politics, as in poetry, it is sometimes true that it is darkest before dawn.

Blaming speculators as a response to financial crisis goes back at least to the Greeks. It's almost always the wrong response.

The United States basically accepted protection abroad as the price of post-war recovery. Now, that these countries have caught up to our level of prosperity, it is time for them to catch up to our level of openness.

It used to be said that when the U.S. sneezed, the world caught a cold. The opposite is equally true today.

Now is the time for us to strike. We must strengthen our foothold in Asia, to ensure no nation overtakes us.

One of those disturbing tendencies in academic life is that there is a desire on the part of many in the name of open-mindedness to fall into a kind of relativistic denialism in which all positions are equally legitimate, all positions must be respected, and compromise must be entered into no matter what the starting point or reasonableness of the two parties.

Where countries have been able to carry through on their reform commitments - as in Korea, Thailand and the Philippines - results are starting to come in the form of lower interest rates, new investment and increased growth.

It was wrong to allow Stalin to shape the European landscape of the 20th century. It would be even more wrong to let him shape the landscape of the 21st century

The idea that we should be open to all ideas is very different from the supposition that all ideas are equally valid.

Investment in girls' education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world.

The availability of private insurance provides tremendous insulation for millions of individuals

What's the single most important thing to learn from an economics course today? What I tried to leave my students with is the view that the invisible hand is more powerful than the hidden hand. Things will happen in well-organized efforts without direction, controls, plans. That's the consensus among economists. That's the Hayek legacy.

Most investors want to do today what they should have done yesterday.

It used to be said that when the U.S. sneezed, the world caught a cold. The opposite is equally true today. Our prosperity is linked inextricably to the maintenance of a strong world economy, an open international trading system, and stable global financial markets.

It's important to remember how fortunate we are as a country to have a currency and a bond market that is seen in every way as a source of strength and it's a huge responsibility for us to keep it that way.

With uncertainty in oil markets, a buildup of speculative pressures and the large U.S. current account deficit, there is a real possibility that Paulson's crisis-management skills will be tested.

In this age of electronic money, investors are no longer seduced by a financial 'dance of a thousand veils.' Only hard and accurate information on reserves, current accounts, and monetary and fiscal conditions will keep capital from fleeing precipitously at the first sign of trouble.

Deflation and secular stagnation are the risks of our time.

There are idiots. Look around.

Takeovers wouldn't cause the stock market to rise unless there is an upward reassessment of earnings (potential). People are more optimistic and confident about the future.

The major challenge for the United States is whether it can become the first outward-looking, continental, nonimperialist power in history.

I have always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted.

The only antidote to dangerous ideas is strong alternatives vigorously advocated.

When I look out the window at my backyard, I can't think of anything interesting to ask. I mean, it's green, it's growing-but nothing occurs to me that any concentrated effort of thought could possibly enlighten. Whereas in economic, statistical, or mathematical kinds of things, I can think lots of questions.

All taxes discourage something. Why not discourage bad things like pollution rather than good things like working?

As long as we keep our fundamentals strong...the dollar (and) U.S. borrowing costs will do just fine.

There are children who are working in textile businesses in Asia who would be prostitutes on the streets if they did not have those jobs

Spread the truth-the laws of economics are like the laws of engineering. One set of laws works everywhere.

A good rule of thumb for many things in life holds that things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then happen faster than you thought they could.

We must recognise that in an integrated world, trade cannot be divorced from other concerns. We need to promote free trade and serious global efforts with respect to common problems even as we support every nation's right to chart its own course.

Just between you and me, shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]?... I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that... I’ve always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted, their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City.