Robert Zoellick Quotations

All of us make mistakes. The key is to acknowledge them, learn, and move on. The real sin is ignoring mistakes, or worse, seeking to hide them.

There are many roads to prosperity, but one must be taken. Inaction leads nowhere.

Japan rose from the ashes of World War II as a 'trading state,' the model for export-led growth. It is not clear that the old export model of growth will be sustainable in a more 'balanced' global economy that does not rely so heavily on the U.S. consumer.

Private sector development and the creation of small businesses spur investment, jobs, opportunity, and hope. It empowers the market to meet local needs, whether for food, basic goods, or services.

When I work with countries struggling to pay for budgets or finance trade deficits, I reflect on how Americans do not spend a moment considering the unique advantages of being able to issue bonds and print money freely.

My true love is history, but I didn't know how I could make a living at it.

It is vital that the World Bank Group continually challenges itself to refresh our development thinking. It is vital that a modernized multilateralism be open to new ideas.

One of the challenges for sub-Saharan Africa is that markets are of modest size. This makes regional integration important.

Don't just analyze a problem - solve it.

Rwanda is a landlocked country, but it hasn't stopped developing. They built a high-end tourism industry around the mountain gorillas.

The most effective executive branch officials try to help legislators develop explanations for the votes they are being asked to take.

The Congress has had an uneasy relationship with banks and bankers since Alexander Hamilton. It took the United States until 1913 to set up a central bank. The Federal Reserve earned its hard-won independence over years of effort.

When I consider a problem, it is now instinctive for me to think about the institutions involved, the authorizing environment, possible coalitions, likely opposition, implementation, legal issues, resource dimensions, communications - and how the problem fits into a stream of other issues.

Since I came to the World Bank in 2007, I have argued that we must 'modernize multilateralism.'

It is much harder for economies to prosper if they cannot sell to, buy from, invest with, and even transit their neighbors. Landlocked countries with failed or failing neighbors can lose access to the world economy.

An empowered public is the foundation for a stronger society, more effective government, and a more successful state.

Great upheavals produce shock waves that widen cracks in political, economic, and security orders. Sometimes the old orders break. Yet it can be in the power of leaders and peoples to shape the directions of change.

It is clearly the case that programs in Europe and the United States that have increased biofuel production have contributed to the added demand for food.

We are going to have to give these people a chance to get back on their feet.

So, I actually think there's some commonality of interest on this topic.

Some countries will now need to decide whether they want to make a point, or whether they want to make progress,

Since the day started with the fact that I had a hard time getting them in the room together, I think there was some progress by getting them to listen to my ... message and listen to the views of our international partners,

military means alone are not capable of defeating the insurgency.

My concluding point with the SLM was that we want to help them, but to help them they need to help us be able to deal with the united movement,

needs a political transition to make its government responsible and accountable to its people.

One of the most important assets for the SLM is the support of countries around the world. But to maintain that support, they have to respect the ceasefire. They can't follow a path of violence, and they have to come up with a common negotiating position,

I believe there is a right balance of interests that can be found to enable us to launch the multilateral negotiations at the upcoming ministerial meeting. It's very important for the global economy that we do so, and it's very important for world politics that we do so,

built on shared interests and shared values are deep and lasting.

China's involvement with troublesome states indicates at best a blindness to consequences, and at worst something more ominous.

China -- and others that sell to China -- cannot take its access to the U.S. market for granted,

Helping to end violence, ease suffering and forge a lasting political solution for Sudan's conflicts remain high priorities for the United States, ... The situation remains tenuous.

I will be emphasizing that the leaders who engage in corruption and their associates will have no place with the United States.

It is a very fluid situation ... the process of SLM coherence is proceeding.

The American steel industry faces a turning point. We believe the actions the president is taking today can restore the strength and profitability of this very important American industry.

We are too interconnected to try to hold China at arm's length, ... It is time to take our policy beyond opening doors to China's membership into the international system, we need to urge China to become a responsible stakeholder in that system.

We are too interconnected to try to hold China at arm's length, hoping to promote other powers in Asia at its expense.

Today's decision ... will strengthen the global economy,

the proliferation of danger will undermine the benign security environment and healthy international economy that it needs for its development.

We consider Australia an extremely strong ally. Clearly there's a security basis ... But we also want to strengthen the economic relationship. That's what this free-trade agreement is about.

there are questions that are being asked not only in the U.S. but other parts of Asia and Europe about how China will use this growing power.

The Philippines copyright enforcement is weak and and we are concerned it has the potential of becoming a center of pirate optical media production in Asia given the doubling in the number of production lines for compact discs (CDs) and other optical media during the past year,,

There are a number of items that we want to see progress on and that is one reason why I am going to Sudan to make sure that the policies under the comprehensive peace accord are on track,

You have to regain the (peace) momentum by getting people to respect the cease-fire, come up with a coherent negotiating position and when the negotiations resume on November 20, to get the rebels as well as the government ... to make more progress toward a peace accord,

Both are already major influences in world trade. Their participation in the WTO will be a boost for us and them.

focuses on the interests of energy, both energy security, but also energy efficiency. It focuses on the vital role of energy in development and it also focuses on the issues of climate change. It opens up the possibilities for developing, deploying, and transferring cleaner, more efficient technologies.

There's going to be no deal here with Aleman on the part of the United States, ... a convicted criminal.

The United States has no closer alliance partner than Australia, ... Our special partnership is built on the solid foundation of common values and our shared commitment to a free, secure, and prosperous world.

It would be a grave mistake to permit any one country to veto America's drive for global free trade.

The terrorists deliberately chose the World Trade towers as their target. While their blow toppled the towers, it cannot and will not shake the foundation of world trade and freedom. Our response has to counter fear and panic, and counter it with free trade.

I've always believed that openness is America's trump card.

the most significant immediate cut in industrial tariffs ever achieved in a U.S. free-trade agreement.

Any spark could set off a wildfire, so all of the key parties have important work to do to keep things on track,

As it turns out, the Chinese are not all that interested in having huge subsidies for the agriculture anyway because as we've discovered in our country and others, these become rather expensive,

The U.S. presence, both in security and economic terms, is a daily fact of life as people saw on December 26 (when the U.S. mobilized its military to provide aid to tsunami victims). We have many ways in which we interact with the region,

The United States will not welcome corrupt people to our country,

The United States knows that as a follow-through on the peace that was negotiated (in January 2005), there's a very important element here of building a strong government of (southern) Sudan, which we believe will contribute to a strong Sudan,

It is vital that my country and others support fair and free elections in Nicaragua,

It's clear that the different elements of the SLM are going to have to come together in some fashion, which only they can determine, if the Abuja peace negotiations can proceed successfully,

It's hard for me to believe that in the position we're in now we'll be able to finish on time,

The U.S. is very committed and our agricultural community is ... committed to eliminating export subsidies to getting significant cuts in domestic subsidies, and also obviously to get significant market access,

Closed politics cannot be a permanent feature of Chinese society. It is simply not sustainable,

Closed politics cannot be a permanent feature of Chinese society, ... It is simply not sustainable.

His family is not welcome in the United States. He is not welcome in the United States, ... We're going to everything we can to make sure he's not welcome anywhere else either.

cannot take access to the U.S. market for granted.

By reason of its size and its success and its growth, it is also affecting the international system.

Climate change policies cannot be the frosting on the cake of development; they must be baked into the recipe of growth and social development.

In the US and Europe over the last year we've been focused on the prices of gasoline at the pump. While many worry about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs. And it's getting more and more difficult every day.

The world is only one poor harvest away from chaos. We are so close to the edge that politically destabilising food prices could come at any time

Corruption is a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fibre and destroys trust.

In London, Washington, and Paris people talk of bonuses or no bonuses. In parts of Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, the struggle is for food or no food.