Latest George Soros Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Advocating democracy has, by other people, often been taken as a form of imperialism, and not without some justification. So the important thing in a democracy is that it doesn't necessarily have to agree with what America's interests are, and it doesn't necessarily have to be serving American interests.

  George Soros

  Taken, Democracies Have, America

  Source: www.pbs.org

• I think it is natural that every country has to take care of its interests, but there are some interests that are common to all countries. There are some human interests, or we need also international cooperation. We've sometimes confused it with dictation.

  George Soros

  Country, Confused, Thinking

  Source: www.pbs.org

• Democracy, by its very nature, can't be imposed on people. Democracy has to be the people deciding for themselves.

  George Soros

  Democracies Have, People, Democracy

  Source: www.pbs.org

• We in the United States are very often - since we are a democracy and we have national interests, we've often made the mistake that a democracy has to adopt America's interests, and that is a contradiction because a democracy basically is people deciding what their interests are.

  George Soros

  Mistake, Democracies Have, America

  Source: www.pbs.org

• I call government that works the best for people open society, which is basically just another more general term for a democracy that is - you call it maybe a liberal democracy. It's not only majority rule but also respect for minorities and minority opinions and the rule of law. So it's really a sort of institutional democracy.

  George Soros

  Government, Law, Majority Rule

  Source: www.pbs.org

• My original intention was to spend the money in my lifetime.

  George Soros

  Lifetime, Intention, Originals

  Source: www.sbs.com.au

• No individual anonymous participant can influence the prices and therefore you really can speculate in the market without paying attention to morality. That's one of the positive features of markets. That's why they function.

  George Soros

  Attention, Morality, Influence

  Source: www.sbs.com.au

• China could easily emerge as the great winner if the Chinese leaders handle the situation well. On the other hand, they could also turn out to be the biggest losers if they handle it poorly. If the management turns out be wrong, this could lead to a political crisis in China.

  George Soros

  Hands, Leader, Political

  "'The Economy Fell off the Cliff'". Interview with Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gabor Steingart, www.spiegel.de. November 24, 2008.

• Of course, speculation will always make a crisis worse. If there is a weak point, it will expose it.

  George Soros

  Weak Points, Crisis, Speculation

  "'You Need This Dirty Word, Euro Bonds'". SPIEGEL Interview, www.spiegel.de. August 15, 2011.

• Giving government aid to a bank basically transforms it into a utility. The huge salaries in this sector are only a symptom of a more profound misalignment. The profitability of the finance industry has been excessive. [...] That was absurd.

  George Soros

  Government, Giving, Profound

  "Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gabor Steingart". Interview with Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gabor Steingart, www.spiegel.de. November 24, 2008.

• What works for Germany can't work for the rest of Europe: No country can run a chronic surplus without others running deficits.

  George Soros

  Running, Country, Europe

  "'You Need This Dirty Word, Euro Bonds'". Interview with Gregor Peter Schmitz and Thomas Schulz, www.spiegel.de. August 15, 2011.

• Sometimes time actually works against you if you refuse to face the relevant issues and explain to the public what is at stake.

  George Soros

  Issues, Faces, Sometimes

  "'You Need This Dirty Word, Euro Bonds'". Interview with Gregor Peter Schmitz and Thomas Schulz, www.spiegel.de. August 15, 2011.

• Hedge funds are a very efficient way of managing money. But there are clearly some risks. Hedge funds use credit and credit is a source of instability. Transactions involving credit should be regulated.

  George Soros

  Risk, Use, Credit

• There is very little difference between speculation and investment. The only difference is basically that investments are successful speculations because if you successfully anticipate the future you make a speculative profit.

  George Soros

  Successful, Differences, Littles

  George Soros (2014). “The Tragedy of the European Union: Disintegration or Revival?”, p.84, PublicAffairs

• There is a well-established conviction that the central banks always do what is necessary to keep the system going and then afterwards you then take care of the legal aspects. In a crisis, you simply do not have time to think about such concerns for too long.

  George Soros

  Thinking, Long, Care

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• Any central bank should only be in charge of liquidity. Solvency is a matter for the treasury.

  George Soros

  Matter, Should, Treasury

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• These public-private partnerships are very, very dangerous. The most rotten part of the financial system in the US consisted of the government sponsored entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They really kicked off this crisis. The state should set the rules and enforce them - but not become involved as a market player.

  George Soros

  Player, Government, Rotten

  "'The Economy Fell off the Cliff'". Interview with Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gabor Steingart, www.spiegel.de. November 24, 2008.

• It is better to have a cat and mouse game where the cat has the upper hand than a cat and mouse game where the mice are ruling. Because the latter means that the market participants are given free range. That was actually the big misconception of our national hero Ronald Reagan, who always talked about the magic of the market.

  George Soros

  Hero, Mean, Cat

  "The Economy Fell off the Cliff". Interview with Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gabor Steingart, www.spiegel.de. November 24, 2008.

• However, you have to recognize that regulations will never be completely successful and they will always be full of holes. You must constantly be ready to fill new holes. Actually regulation should be kept to a minimum, but there has to be some cooperation between market participants and authorities - as was the case in the early postwar years. The Bank of England was a very successful regulator by cooperating with market participants. This cooperative spirit was broken by the market fundamentalists.

  George Soros

  Successful, Years, Broken

  "'The Economy Fell off the Cliff'". Interview with Mathias Müller von Blumencron, Gregor Peter Schmitz and Gabor Steingart, www.spiegel.de. November 24, 2008.

• At times of recession, running a budget deficit is highly desirable. Once the economy begins to recover, you have to balance the budget. But it will also need additional revenues. Should the government not receive them, we will all get punished with higher interest rates.

  George Soros

  Running, Government, Over You

• However, even a strong government can't perform miracles. It needs money from the taxpayers.

  George Soros

  Strong, Government, Miracle

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful - but also very harmful to our society.

  George Soros

  Successful, Thinking, Government

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• The US needs a cap and trade system with auctioning of licenses for emissions rights. The revenues from these auctions can be used to launch a new, environmentally friendly energy policy. That would be yet another federal program that could help us to overcome the stagnation.

  George Soros

  Rights, Friendly, Overcoming

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• The dark comes before dawn. The financial markets are under great pressure because of the lack of leadership during the transition period.

  George Soros

  Dark, Dawn, Transition

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• If every rich person gave 50 percent of their wealth to charity, I would not say they should pay more taxes.

  George Soros

  Charity, Pay, Wealth

  "'Merkel Is Leading Europe in the Wrong Direction'". SPIEGEL Interview, www.spiegel.de. February 13, 2012.