Ben Bernanke Quotes

Nobody likes to fail but failure is an essential part of life and of learning. If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't been in the game.

It must be awfully frustrating to get a small raise at work and then have it all eaten by a higher cost of commuting.

The financial crisis appears to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is expanding again.

The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.

Monetary policy is not a panacea.

Monetary policy cannot do much about long-run growth, all we can try to do is to try to smooth out periods where the economy is depressed because of lack of demand

If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. If you want to understand the economy, study the Depression.

Economics is a very difficult subject. I've compared it to trying to learn how to repair a car when the engine is running.

Economics is a highly sophisticated field of thought that is superb at explaining to policymakers precisely why the choices they made in the past were wrong. About the future, not so much.

If you are not happy with yourself, even the loftiest achievements won't bring you much satisfaction.

Nobody really understands gold prices and I don't pretend to understand them either.

The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.

If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't been in the game.

The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt.

The impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime markets seems likely to be contained.

It's the price of success: people start to think you're omnipotent.

Over the years, the U.S. economy has shown a remarkable ability to absorb shocks of all kinds, to recover, and to continue to grow.

I'd throw dollars out of helicopters if I had to, to stimulate the economy.

The economic repercussions of a stock market crash depend less on the severity of the crash itself than on the response of economic policymakers, particularly central bankers.

A gold standard doesn't imply stability in the prices of the goods and services that people buy every day, it implies a stability in the price of gold itself.

I don't think that Chinese ownership of U.S. assets is so large as to put our country at risk economically.

While rising delinquencies and foreclosures will continue to weigh heavily on the housing market this year, it will not cripple the U.S.

Under current law, on January 1, 2013, there's going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases.

I am confident that we will meet whatever challenges the future may bring.

The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so.

If you are asking me if I would advocate that the Chinese go to greater flexibility in their exchange rate, I certainly would.

How much would you pay to avoid a second Depression?

September and October of 2008 was the worst financial crisis in global history, including the Great Depression.

It is not the responsibility of the Federal Bank - nor would it be appropriate - to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their decisions

The economist John Maynard Keynes said that in the long run, we are all dead. If he were around today he might say that, in the long run, we are all on Social Security and Medicare.

It takes about two and a half percent growth just to keep unemployment stable.

The lesson of history is that you do not get a sustained economic recovery as long as the financial system is in crisis.

The more guidance a central bank can provide the public about how policy is likely to evolve the greater the chance that market participants will make appropriate inferences.

The more important reason is that the research itself provides an important long-run perspective on the issues that we face on a day-to-day basis.

It's true that the Federal Reserve faces a lot of political pressure and is unpopular in many circles.

The central bank needs to be able to make policy without short term political concerns.

...the Federal Reserve has the capacity to operate in domestic money markets to maintain interest rates at a level consistent with our economic goals

The people who best use their advantages, or overcome adversity, and work honestly are those most worthy of admiration.

Education - lifelong education for everyone - from toddlers to workers well advanced in their careers - is indeed an excellent investment for individuals and society as a whole.

[Virtual Currencies] may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations Promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.

If Wall Street crashes, does Main Street follow? Not necessarily.

Both humanity's capacity to innovate and the incentives to innovate are greater today than at any other time in history.

I don't fully understand movements in the gold price.

The benefit of appointing a hawkish central banker is the increased inflation-fighting credibility that such an appointment brings.

Although low inflation is generally good, inflation that is too low can pose risks to the economy - especially when the economy is struggling.

I am very proud of my nerd-dom.

The GSEs are adequately capitalized. They are in no danger of failing.

I come from Main Street, from a small town that's really depressed.

In the future, my communications with the public and with the markets will be entirely through regular and formal channels.

The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have - great universities. We have entrepreneurs.