Jeremy Grantham Quotes

Real leadership means tackling tough problems ourselves and not leaving them to our children.

Private passions tire and exhaust themselves, public ones never.

We live in a world that is full of problems, and we are the solutions to those problems.

It is human nature to be shortsighted and to lose momentum to make changes once the story is out of the headlines and there aren't financial incentives or political rewards. We owe to ourselves to learn from the past so we can try to do better.

We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.

At its very heart, Worldchanging is about using the best of people's new ideas, bringing them together and applying them to the massive problems that we all face.

President Obama came to office proclaiming that he aims to solve problems, not hand them on to our children. Most presidents say that sort of thing.

When a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune: so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.

What we need to do is to come together as a people and solve the problems facing our country. And unfortunately, Washington is just not doing enough of that these days.

Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.

There aren't enough professionals to solve the world's problems. There will never be enough doctors to solve the health problems of the world. There will never be enough teachers to solve the education problems of the world - illiteracy. There will never be enough missionaries to care and comfort and share the Good News. It has to be done by normal, ordinary people.

The oil corporations spend a lot of money to get, say, the tar sands pipeline through, but nobody's - you know, there are definitely environmentalists being paid - but a lot of people are acting for something other than financial compensation. So if the tar sands pipeline doesn't get made, it's because a huge amount of people are doing something that doesn't involve remuneration, money, etc., because we're not actually the self-interested financial instruments that economists like to imagine we are.

Pride or ego is not important to me. What is more important is common sense, the welfare of the company, and the objective reality that we need to be cautious during difficult times. One should not make decisions based on emotions or ego.

I believe in giving everybody a chance to join our party. Over time, we realized that some joined expecting what the party can do for them... We want the people, when they come and join the PSP, to do something for the country and not for themselves.

You can't raise the aspirations of a child and then leave them hanging. Poverty can't be solved by a project. It's solved by a relationship, collaboration.

My stance has always been that my issue compared to everything else going on in the world is really, really small. Once you realize that, you can get a lot more out of being a part of the solution.

We need a collective moment where we commit ourselves to long-term solutions.

Not everybody has to work on the big problems, but if nobody does, they don't get solved.

We need leaders who are willing to stand up, drive the debate, and commit our fellow citizens to action.

Look at what is broken in society, figure out how to make it better, and then, around that, formulate a business.

I am a logical person and can handle situations calmly.

If we are going to be part of the solution, we have to engage the problems.

America and Americans always rise to the occasion. If we say we are going to stamp out hunger, I believe we will.

Well, one time some attractive woman sat next to Charlie and asked him what he owed his success to, and, unfortunately, she insisted on a one word answer. He had a speech prepared that would have gone on for several hours. But when forced to boil it down to one word, he said that was "rational". You know, he comes equipped for rationality, and he applies it in business. He doesn't always apply it elsewhere, but he applies it in business and that has made him a huge business success.

At this very moment enormous numbers of intelligent men and women of goodwill are trying to build a better world. But problems are born faster than they can be solved.