Henry Paulson Quotations

Economic growth and environmental protection are not at odds. They're opposite sides of the same coin if you're looking at longer-term prosperity.

I always told people in the private sector, 'You can be the smartest person in the world, you can have the very best ideas, but if you can't sell them and you can't get other people to work with you, you're not going to succeed.'

India is a vibrant nation whose strength lies in its commitment to equal rights and to speech, religious and economic freedoms that enrich the lives of all citizens. India is not only the world's largest democracy; it is also a secular, pluralistic society committed to inclusive growth.

In just about every area of society, there's nothing more important than ethics.

I'm a straightforward person. I like to be direct with people.

There is a very real danger that financial regulation will become a wolf in sheep's clothing.

I have always tried to live by the philosophy that when there is a big problem that needs fixing, you should run towards it, rather than away from it.

For market discipline to constrain risk effectively, financial institutions must be allowed to fail. Under optimal financial regulatory and financial system infrastructures, such a failure would not threaten the overall system.

I've always said, 'I don't want to be irrelevant.'

Buying a home today is a complex process, but that in no way excuses home buyers from their obligation for due diligence.

If the financial system collapses, it's really, really hard to put it back together again.

What I've said repeatedly is, 'I think the auto industry is a very important industry.'

I've been through periods of stress, turbulence in the market for over the course of my career, various times, and never in any of those other periods have we had the advantage of a strong economy underpinning the markets.

Payment systems are critically important for overall market stability. On a typical business day, U.S. payment and settlement systems settle transactions valued at over $13 trillion.

Our overriding goal in restructuring our financial architecture should be that taxpayers never again have to save a failing financial institution.

When you have a big, ugly problem, there's never going to be a neat, elegant solution that is totally painless or without a cost.

One of the most constant aspects of American life is change - and nowhere is it more evident than in our financial markets.

An open, competitive, and liberalized financial market can effectively allocate scarce resources in a manner that promotes stability and prosperity far better than governmental intervention.

One of the things I enjoy the most is fishing.

A Fed loan to Lehman Brothers would not have prevented a bankruptcy.

Anticompetitive practices hurt Chinese private firms nearly as much as foreign ones.

China needs a currency that reflects underlying economic fundamentals.

We've all got to work to restore business confidence...but I believe that longer term we may look at Enron as being a positive as opposed to a negative, ... It may lead to greater transparency.

We are taking this step to secure permanent capital to grow; to share ownership broadly among our employees now and through future compensation; and to permit us to use publicly traded securities to finance strategic acquisitions that we may elect to make in the future.

Many of the Western democracies - including the U.S. - have a problem that voters want benefits they don't want to pay for.

China and the U.S. are the two largest importers of oil. They are the two largest emitters of carbon.

From the beginning of time, we've had financial crises. People always blame the banks and for good reason. When you look for the root causes, they're almost always failed government policies.

I think the danger is to just look through that lens, to lose a sense of perspective and rush toward harsh regulations that are unnecessary. Some regulation will be necessary, some changes in accounting rules.

Looking ahead, while we remain cautious about the near-term operating environment, we are confident in the strength of our franchise and the firm's longer-term growth prospects,

We don't have a lot more time to deal with climate change, ... We need the right balance between regulation and market-based approaches.

We've had crooks from the beginning of time... it's always very interesting and troubling why good people do bad things.

U.S. exports to China have more than quintupled since China entered the WTO and have grown more quickly than imports. In fact, China is America's fastest-growing export market.

While we know that we cannot expect to achieve these results every quarter, we continue to see attractive opportunities.

Weakness in the capital markets, compounded by an erosion of corporate and investor confidence, has depressed activity in a number of our most important businesses, ... While we have seen some encouraging economic data of late, the current environment remains very challenging.

Today we affirm our commitment to lower Manhattan and the City of the New York, the financial capital of the world,

Wit Capital has pioneered the integration of the Internet and the capital markets, and both investors and corporate issuers are benefiting as a result, ... We believe that Wit Capital is both an attractive investment for Goldman Sachs and an important part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the Internet and other new technologies in our business.

When our markets work, people throughout our economy benefit - Americans seeking to buy a car or buy a home, families borrowing to pay for college, innovators borrowing on the strength of a good idea for a new product or technology, and businesses financing investments that create new jobs.

Too often, we restrict trade that would create U.S. jobs and is in our national interest.

When the economy is growing, there's a lot that can be done to deal with the deficit.

We are very confident about the long-term outlook for our business, but believe that the immediate impact will be a further weakening in the operating environment and a delay in the economic recovery, ... However, given increased fiscal and monetary stimulus, we anticipate that long-term economic recovery should be more certain and vigorous than previously expected.

A state-based regulatory system is quite burdensome. It allows price controls to create market distortions. It can hinder development of national products and can directly impact the competitiveness of U.S. insurers.

As I talk with the Chinese on currency, I encourage them to move much more quickly with opening up their capital markets to competition, because I don't believe the world is going to give them as much time as they would like.

During the third quarter, we saw increasing activity levels across all of our major businesses and believe overall market conditions support a generally optimistic outlook.

I've never been antiregulation. I've always believed that raw, unregulated capitalism doesn't work.

As a public company, Goldman Sachs will have the financial strength and strategic flexibility to continue to serve our clients effectively as well as to respond thoughtfully to the business and competitive environment over the long term.

As Americans, we shouldn't like bailouts. Where I come from, if someone takes a risk and they're going to make the profit from that risk, they shouldn't have the taxpayer pay for the losses.

This action also will meet a fundamental objective of the partners -- to share ownership benefits and responsibilities more broadly among all of the firm's employees.

This acquisition highlights Goldman Sachs' strategy of expanding our electronic market-making capabilities,

Foreclosure is to no one's benefit. I've heard estimates that mortgage investors lose 40 to 50 percent on their investment if it goes into foreclosure.

For decades, Indians have immigrated to the United States, joined our communities, and raised their families while maintaining their cultural heritage.

The best time for transition is during a period of great strength, ... We believe these appointments and the evolution of the governance of the firm will strengthen our management focus and keep the firm on a solid foundation to serve our clients, develop our people, and execute our strategy.

Non-bank financial institutions provide credit that is essential to U.S. businesses and consumers.

The U.S. and China need to take steps - mostly individually, sometimes together - that will have the mutually beneficial effect of supporting and sustaining economic growth.

India is one of the world's largest and most peaceful states with advanced nuclear technologies and has been isolated from the rest of the world on nuclear issues.

I'm telling you that there is no silver bullet to keep home prices from going down or to prevent all foreclosures.

If you've got a bazooka, and people know you've got it, you may not have to take it out.

Illiquid asset purchases are all about capital and encouraging private capital to come in.

Investment banks are increasingly using their own balance sheets to extend credit to clients, to assume market risk on their behalf and sometimes to co-invest alongside them. Investment banking serves as the main initial point of contact with all of Goldman Sachs for our clients.

In the past, if a homeowner with a mortgage had a problem making the payment, often he'd get together with a lender and strike a deal, because foreclosures are very expensive to the lender and obviously not good for the homeowner and the community.

I think all of us know that what we went through in the last half of the Nineties is not sustainable. We're going to need to adjust ourselves to a period of more normal growth. How we think about managing our businesses in that environment is the tricky question we're all grappling with.

The Chinese have done some extraordinary things in terms of the investments they've made in alternative sources of energy.

A single agency responsible for systemic risk would be accountable in a way that no regulator was in the run-up to the 2008 crisis. With access to all necessary information to monitor the markets, this regulator would have a better chance of identifying and limiting the impact of future speculative bubbles.

Regulation needs to catch up with innovation.

It is the policy of the federal government to use all resources at its disposal to make our financial system stronger.

In China, export lobbies have fought for policies that favor their interests and limit foreign competition.

I didn't get the charm gene.

Every global concern - economic, environmental or security-related - can be addressed more effectively when the U.S. and China work together.

China and the U.S. are the two largest importers of oil. They are the two largest emitters of carbon.

As the Indian government has embraced greater economic openness, the creativity and expertise of the Indian workforce has been unleashed onto the world economic stage.

My preference is for the Federal Reserve to be the systemic risk regulator, because the responsibility for identifying and limiting potential problems is a natural complement to its role in monetary policy.

Well, as you know, we're working through a difficult period in our financial markets right now as we work off some of the past excesses. But the American people can remain confident in the soundness and the resilience of our financial system.

Even if you don't have the authorities - and frankly I didn't have the authorities for anything - if you take charge, people will follow

As a child, I could beat most kids in sprints, but overall, wrestling was the most natural sport for me. In fact, I was a pretty good high school wrestler. I was unusually quick and strong.

There is no way to stabilize the markets other than through government intervention.

I believe that the root cause of every financial crisis, the root cause, is flawed government policies

The most pressing and significant problems in the global economy are unsustainable structural issues with regard to the E.U. - fiscal deficits and the structure of the E.U. itself.

The worst is likely to be behind us

U.S. exports to China have more than quintupled since China entered the WTO and have grown more quickly than imports. In fact, China is America's fastest-growing export market.

I see the underlying economy as being very healthy,

I think all governments engage in intelligence gathering vis-a-vis other governments.

I have relied on prayer for health care all of my life.

China saves too much, produces too much, sells too much to Americans and consumes too little.

As a Christian Scientist, I don't go to doctors and get diagnoses.

I never once considered that it was appropriate to put taxpayer money on the line in resolving Lehman Brothers.

It's a safe banking system, a sound banking system. Our regulators are on top of it. This is a very manageable situation.

I don't see (subprime mortgage market troubles) imposing a serious problem. I think it's going to be largely contained.

I have great, great confidence in our capital markets and in our financial institutions. Our financial institutions, banks and investment banks, are strong. Our capital markets are resilient. They're efficient. They're flexible.