Jamie Dimon speech at University of Washington

It’s okay for us at times to blame and be dissatisfied with others and hold them responsible, but it’s not okay to oversimplify and paint everyone with the same brush. It should not be acceptable to denigrate entire groups, not all companies, not all CEOs, not all politicians, not all media, not all students.

Jamie Dimon, CEO, JP Morgan Chase, Bloomberg, November 2, 2011

US Bancorp CEO Richard Davis on bank practices

Everybody’s breaking the rules, blah blah blah, Get over it.

Richard Davis, CEO US Bancorp, Minneapolis News, November 2, 2011

Bernanke on MF Global failure

It appears to be an idiosyncratic case. We are monitering the possible impacts on funding markets and elsewhere, and so far we have not seen any significant impact on financial stability.

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Press Conference, 11/2/2011

Richard Cobden on free trade

I look farther; I see in the Free-trade principle that which shall act on the moral world as the principle of gravitation in the universe,—drawing men together, thrusting aside the antagonism of race, and creed, and language, and uniting us in the bonds of eternal peace.

~ Richard Cobden

Paul De Grauwe on Euro crisis

Everyone needs the ECB to step up to the plate. The ECB has no excuse not to act. In trying to keep its monetary virginity intact, the bank threatens to destroy the Euro Zone. If that happens, nobody will be able to profit from its virginity.

Paul De Grauwe, Financial Times, August 2011

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the global commodity boom

There's no advice to me that would cause me concern about Chinese demand collapsing.

~ Julia Gillard, Australian Prime Minister, "Unease in Australia," Bloomberg Markets, November 2011

Dan Pallotta on Steve Jobs and philanthropy

Last year Change.org wrote of Steve Jobs, "It's high time the minimalist CEO became a magnanimous philanthropist."

I've got news for you. He has been. What's important is how we use our time on this earth, not how conspicuously we give our money away. What's important is the energy and courage we are willing to expend reversing entropy, battling cynicism, suffering and challenging mediocre minds, staring down those who would trample our dreams, taking a stand for magic, and advancing the potential of the human race.

On these scores, the world has no greater philanthropist than Steve Jobs. If ever a man contributed to humanity, here he is. And he has done it while battling cancer.

~ Dan Pallotta, "Steve Jobs, World's Greatest Philanthropist," Harvard Business Review, September 2, 2011