George Soros Quotes
George Soros quotes are generally quotations that deal with freedom, democracy, human rights, economics, education and public health, because those are the main causes that the ultra-wealthy Hungarian-American investor, author and philanthropist George Soros (born 1930) is passionate about.As a young boy he survived two invasions of his birth country of Hungary, first by Nazi Germany and then, just 3 years later, by the Stalinist Soviet Union. This is probably why he said:
You know, I learned at a very early age that what kind of social system or political system prevails is very important. Not just for your well-being, but for your very survival. Because, you know, I could have been killed by the Nazis. I could have wasted my life under the Communists. So, that's what led me to this idea of an open society. And that is the idea that is motivating me.
~ George Soros ~
Soros is one of the 30 richest people on the planet, and a controversial figure on the world scene because of his unflinching devotion to democratic anti-totalitarianism - and his critique of the path that his home country of USA has taken in recent decades, both politically and economically.
I grew up in Hungary, lived through fascism and the Holocaust, and then had a foretaste of communism. I learned at an early age how important it is what kind of government prevails. I chose America as my home because I value freedom and democracy, civil liberties and an open society. When I had made more money than I needed for myself and my family, I set up a foundation to promote the values and principles of a free and open society.
~ George Soros freedom quotes ~
Mr. Soros personal ideology and philosophy is very much in line with one of the 20th century's most prominent philosophers of science, Karl Popper. Mr. Popper, and with him Mr. Soros, argue that the only way for a society to thrive and grow is to stay open and diverse in as many ways as possible. Therefore individual rights, differing opinions, freedom of expression and the system of democracy itself must be preserved. An open society is in every way preferable to a totalitarian one.
An open society such as ours is based on the recognition that our understanding of reality is inherently imperfect. Nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth. As the philosopher Karl Popper has shown, the ultimate truth is not attainable even in science. All theories are subject to testing and the process of replacing old theories with better ones never ends.
~ George Soros ~
My position is that America is great precisely because it is an open society, and an open society recognizes that nobody is the ultimate arbiter - and that we may be wrong at times, even if we are powerful. We must be open to criticism and respect divergent and different views and interests.
~ George Soros ~
I have devoted half my fortune and most of my energies in the last 15 years to promoting the values of democracy and open society all over the world, especially in the former Soviet Empire. After 9/11 I came to feel that those principles need to be defended at home.
~ George Soros quotes on terrorism and democracy ~
If you want to read more about this maverick of international economics and the controversial books he has authored (as well as why he has been called 'The Man Who Broke the Bank of England'), you will find a proper bio as well as a brief summary of each of his books on this page: George Soros biography
Funny George Soros Quotes
Though Soros is a man who focuses on the big picture he is the man behind several fairly funny quotes.For instance, when Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir of singled Soros out for attack as something akin to an evil destroyer of the Malaysian economy (statements he later modified), Soros maintained that Mahathir did so for political and not the economical reasons the Malaysian PM claimed. Said Soros about Mahathir, "I hardly knew the man's name ... He really invented me. He needed me for his political purposes, so Im a figment of his imagination."
~ Funny George Soros quotes ~
Soros is also the guy who said:
Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman.
~ Funny George Soros quotes ~
And:
My principle is to survive first and make money afterward.
~ Funny George Soros quotes ~
As well as (commenting on his huge and widely recognized effort to promote a peaceful system change from Communism to democracy in the former Soviet states of Eastern Europe):
Just write that the former Soviet empire is now called the Soros empire.
~ Funny George Soros quotes ~ (from: The Glenn Beck Show, Nov. 10, 2010)
George Soros has the hilarious but somewhat unpleasant honor of being one of the few people who is vehemently despised by BOTH the extreme political left AND the extreme political right in his own country (USA). The extreme left thinks he is way too capitalistic and the extreme right thinks he is way too socialistic.
An example of a George Soros quote that has deliberately been shortened and cut out of its context in order to be used in an attempt to defame him in the USA (that probably won't work outside of the US, though, since many international observers tend to agree with Soros) is the one below. The people trying to elicit 'patriotic' feelings in the reader whilst defaming Soros have taken to cutting the first sentence out of its context and presenting it alone. Here is the full George Soros quote:
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States. This is a harsh - indeed, for me, painful - thing to say, but unfortunately I am convinced it is true. The United States continues to set the agenda for the world in spite of its loss of influence since 9/11, and the Bush administration is setting the wrong agenda. The Bush agenda is nationalistic: it emphasizes the use of force and ignores global problems whose solution requires international cooperation. The rest of the world dances to the tune the United States is playing, and if that continues too long we are in danger of destroying our civilization. Changing the attitude and policies of the United States remains my top priority.
~ George Soros quotes ~
Despite the fact that he is quite a controversial figure Soros has received honorary doctoral degrees and other kinds of honors from a number of schools and prominent universities around the world, including (among others): Yale University, the University of Oxford, the University of Bologna and the Corvinus University of Budapest. His answer as to how he would describe himself goes like this:
I would like to be called a financial, philanthropic and philosophical speculator.
~ George Soros quotes ~
The fact that Soros is a divisive type of philanthropist is reflected in many other quotes by George Soros. The rest of this page presents a very large number of those, many of them rather long because in many cases I have chosen to display the full George Soros quotes rather than the abbreviated versions. All these many quotes by George Soros sorted into groups under headings like these:
- "George Soros Quotations about This and That (General Quotes)"
- "George Soros Quotes on Freedom, Open Society and Democracy"
- "George Soros Quotes on Marijuana and Drugs"
- "George Soros Quotes on Free Markets, Finance and Globalization"
- "George Soros Quotes on Politics, Terrorism and War"
... and finally a couple of:
- "George Soros Quotes on Fox News"
Have fun!
George Soros Quotations about This and That (General Quotes)
Fear is a bad counselor; we must resist it wherever it comes from. President Roosevelt had the right idea when he said, 'We have nothing to fear but Fear itself.'~ George Soros quotes ~
We must be willing to adjust our principles in light of experience. This requires a critical attitude. We must recognise that no one is in possession of the ultimate truth.
~ George Soros ~
I came to the conclusion that basically all of our views of the world are somehow flawed or distorted, and then I concentrated on the importance of this distortion in shaping events.
~ George Soros ~
What beliefs do is alter facts.
~ George Soros ~
The worse a situation becomes the less it takes to turn it around, the bigger the upside.
~ George Soros ~
The traumatic experience of my life was the German occupation of Hungary in 1944. I survived it because my father taught me at a early age that its better to confront harsh reality than to passively submit to it.
~ Quotes by George Soros ~
I think the world very much needs a conscience ... I want my foundation network to be the conscience of the world.
~ George Soros ~ (from: The Glenn Beck Show, Nov. 10, 2010)
We must not forget; but we must forgive. Suffering often such compassion from the Jewish community. It was Jewish groups in the US who were in the forefront in opposing the ethnic cleansing of Muslim in Bosnia.
~ George Soros ~
I'm only rich because I know when I'm wrong.
~ George Soros ~
On the abstract level, I have turned the belief in my own fallibility into the cornerstone of an elaborate philosophy. On a personal level, I am a very critical person who looks for defects in myself as well as in others. But, being so critical, I am also quite forgiving. I couldn't recognize my mistakes if I couldn't forgive myself. To others, being wrong is a source of shame; to me, recognizing my mistakes is a source of pride. Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.
~ George Soros ~
I changed my mind, and made an absolute fortune.
~ George Soros ~
When I had made more money than I needed for myself and my family, I set up a foundation to promote the values and principles of a free and open society.
~ George Soros ~
I really want to help people who are hurt. And if I do that, I feel that my money is well-spent.
~ George Soros ~
To be successful you need leisure. You need time hanging heavily on your hands.
~ George Soros ~
Im a very bad judge of character. Im a good judge of stocks, and I have a reasonably good perspective on history. But I am, really quite awful in judging character, and so Ive made many mistakes.
~ George Soros ~
I admit that I have always harbored an exaggerated view of my self-importance - to put it bluntly, I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes (each with his General Theory) or, even better, a scientist like Einstein (reflexivity sounds like relativity).
~ George Soros ~ (from: 'The Alchemy of Finance')
If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood which I felt I had to control, otherwise I might end up in the loony bin. But when I made my way in the world I wanted to indulge myself in my fantasies to the extent that I could afford.
~ George Soros quotations ~ (from: 'Underwriting Democracy: Encouraging Free Enterprise and Democratic Reform among the Soviets and in Eastern Europe')
George Soros Quotes on Freedom, Open Society and Democracy
An open society is a society which allows its members the greatest possible degree of freedom in pursuing their interests compatible with the interests of others.
~ George Soros quotes on freedom ~
A full and fair discussion is essential to democracy.
~ George Soros ~
The people currently in charge have forgotten the first principle of an open society, namely that we may be wrong and that there has to be free discussion. That it's possible to be opposed to the policies without being unpatriotic.
~ George Soros ~
I give away something up to $500 million a year throughout the world promoting Open Society. My foundations support people in the country who care about an open society. It's their work that I'm supporting. So it's not me doing it. But I can empower them. I can support them, and I can help them.
~ George Soros quotes on Open Society ~
I think you will have to be very, very careful to have the regulations that will protect freedom.
~ George Soros freedom quotes ~
Each state is guided by its interests, not by some nebulous concept of common interest. And not many states are even democratic. So, you have a problem with the concept between international institutions and sovereignty. To my mind, there is a solution which has to do with democracy, because democratic governments are subject to the will of the people. So, if the people will it, you can actually create international institutions through the democratic states.
~ George Soros ~
I do not accept the rules imposed by others. If I did, I would not be alive today ... And in periods of regime change, the normal rules don't apply. One needs to adjust one's behavior to the changing circumstances.
~ George Soros ~ (from: The Glenn Beck Show, Nov. 9, 2010)
I'm not doing my philanthropic work, out of any kind of guilt, or any need to create good public relations. I'm doing it because I can afford to do it, and I believe in it.
~ George Soros ~
The main difference between me and other people who have amassed this kind of money is that I am primarily interested in ideas, and I don't have much personal use for money. But I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't made money: My ideas would not have gotten much play.
~ George Soros ~ (quoted in Mark Tier's 2006 book 'The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros)
I did spearhead the introduction of the Internet in countries like Russia, the former Soviet Union, because it is a very open system of communication. I think it has great potential for self-organization and self-organization is very much at the heart of an open society. The Internet is sort of a medium of open society. However, it can also be a medium of control and so we have to be careful it doesn't destroy you.
~ George Soros quotes ~
We need to maintain law and order. We need to maintain peace in the world. We need to protect the environment. We need to have some degree of social justice, equality of opportunity. The markets are not designed to take care of those needs. That's a political process. And the market fundamentalists have managed to reduce providing those public goods.
~ George Soros ~
George Soros Quotes on Marijuana and Drugs
I think the whole idea of eradicating the drug problem is a false idea, ... You can discourage the use of drugs, you can forbid the use of drugs, you can treat people who are addicted to drugs, but you cannot eradicate drugs. Once you accept this point, you may be able to develop a more rational approach to the problem.
~ George Soros ~
Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually.
~ George Soros ~
The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences.
~ George Soros ~
The absurdity of its illegality has been clear to me for some time. I learned about pot from my kids and realized it was a lot better than Scotch, and I loved the Scotch. Then I went to my doctor, and he said, 'I'm thrilled. You're drinking too much. You're much better off doing pot than drinking.'
~ George Soros ~
Proposition 19 already is a winner no matter what happens on election day. The mere fact of its being on the ballot has elevated and legitimized public discourse about marijuana and marijuana policy in ways I could not have imagined a year ago.
~ George Soros ~
Just as the process of repealing national alcohol prohibition began with individual states repealing their own prohibition laws, so individual states must now take the initiative with respect to repealing marijuana prohibition laws.
~ George Soros ~
George Soros Quotes on Free Markets, Finance and Globalization
I think there's a lot of merit in an international economy and global markets, but they're not sufficient because markets don't look after social needs.
~ George Soros ~
Markets are designed to allow individuals to look after their private needs and to pursue profit. It's really a great invention and I wouldn't under-estimate the value of that, but they're not designed to take care of social needs.
~ George Soros economics quotes ~
The world's leaders urgently need to learn that they have to lead markets and not seek to follow them. Of course, they also need to get their policies right and forge a consensus - a difficult trifecta.
~ George Soros quotes on free markets ~
My peculiarity is that I don't have a particular style of investing or, more exactly, I try to change my style to fit the conditions.
~ George Soros investment quotes ~
This asymmetry in the treatment of lenders and borrowers is a major source of instability in the global capitalist system and it needs to be corrected.
~ George Soros quotes ~
It is time to recognize that financial markets are inherently unstable. Imposing market discipline means imposing instability, and how much instability can society take? ... To put it bluntly, the choice confronting us is whether we will regulate global financial markets internationally or leave it to each individual state to protect its interests as best it can. The latter course will surely lead to the breakdown of the gigantic circulatory system, which goes under the name of global capitalism.
~ George Soros free market quotes ~
The global crisis is caused by pathologies inherent in the global financial system itself.
~ George Soros economics quotes ~
To stabilize and regulate a truly global economy, we need some global system of political decision making. In short, we need a global society to support our global economy... Interestingly, the greatest opposition to this idea is coming from the United States. With the right sense of leadership and with clarity of purpose, the U.S. and its allies could help to stabilize the global economic system ... The opportunity is waiting to be grasped.
~ George Soros globalization quotes ~ (from: The Glenn Beck Show, Nov. 9, 2010)
A global society does not mean a global state. To abolish the existence of states is neither feasible nor desirable; but insofar as there are collective interests that transcend state boundaries, the sovereignty of states must be subordinated to international law and international institutions.
~ George Soros globalization quotes ~
Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected.
~ George Soros ~
The financial markets generally are unpredictable. So that one has to have different scenarios ... The idea that you can actually predict what's going to happen contradicts my way of looking at the market.
~ George Soros ~
The prevailing wisdom is that markets are always right. I take the opposition position. I assume that markets are always wrong. Even if my assumption is occasionally wrong, I use it as a working hypothesis. It does not follow that one should always go against the prevailing trend. On the contrary, most of the time the trend prevails; only occasionally are the errors corrected. It is only on those occasions that one should go against the trend. This line of reasoning leads me to look for the flaw in every investment thesis. ... I am ahead of the curve. I watch out for telltale signs that a trend may be exhausted. Then I disengage from the herd and look for a different investment thesis. Or, if I think the trend has been carried to excess, I may probe going against it. Most of the time we are punished if we go against the trend. Only at an inflection point are we rewarded.
~ George Soros quotes ~
Economics tried to model itself on Newtonian physics. It sought to establish universally and timelessly valid laws governing reality. But economics is a social science and there is a fundamental difference between the natural and social sciences. Social phenomena have thinking participants who base their decisions on imperfect knowledge. That is what economic theory has tried to ignore.
~ George Soros ~
Obviously, I did not discover reflexivity. Others had recognized it before me, often under a different name. Robert Merton wrote about self fulfilling prophecies and the bandwagon effect, Keynes compared financial markets to a beauty contest where the participants had to guess who would be the most popular choice. But starting from fallibility and reflexivity I focused on a problem area, namely the role of misconceptions and misunderstandings in shaping the course of events that mainstream economics tried to ignore. This made my interpretation of reality more realistic than the prevailing paradigm.
~ George Soros ~
According to my theory financial markets may just as soon produce bubbles as tend toward equilibrium. Since bubbles disrupt financial markets, history has been punctuated by financial crises. Each crisis provoked a regulatory response. That is how central banking and financial regulations have evolved, in step with the markets themselves. Bubbles occur only intermittently but the interplay between markets and regulators is ongoing. Since both market participants and regulators act on the basis of imperfect knowledge the interplay between them is reflexive. Moreover reflexivity and fallibility are not confined to the financial markets; they also characterize other spheres of social life, particularly politics. Indeed, in light of the ongoing interaction between markets and regulators it is quite misleading to study financial markets in isolation. Behind the invisible hand of the market lies the visible hand of politics. Instead of pursuing timeless laws and models we ought to study events in their time bound context.
~ George Soros quotations on free markets ~
My interpretation of financial markets differs from the prevailing paradigm in many ways. I emphasize the role of misunderstandings and misconceptions in shaping the course of history. And I treat bubbles as largely unpredictable. The direction and its eventual reversal are predictable; the magnitude and duration of the various phases is not. I contend that taking fallibility as the starting point makes my conceptual framework more realistic. But at a price: the idea that laws or models of universal validity can predict the future must be abandoned.
~ George Soros quotes on economic theory ~
Until recently, my interpretation of financial markets was either ignored or dismissed by academic economists. All this has changed since the crash of 2008. Reflexivity became recognized but, with the exception of Imperfect Knowledge Economics, the foundations of economic theory have not been subjected to the profound rethinking that I consider necessary. Reflexivity has been accommodated by speaking of multiple equilibria instead of a single one. But that is not enough. The fallibility of market participants, regulators, and economists must also be recognized. A truly dynamic situation cannot be understood by studying multiple equilibria. We need to study the process of change.
~ George Soros quotes on free markets ~
The markets are always on the side of exuberance or fear. It's fear and greed. Right now greed has the better of it, which is rather nice (for investors) as long as it doesn't get out of hand.
~ George Soros quotes ~
I expect by '07 there will be a significant decline in U.S. consumer spending, and I don't see what will take its place, because it's so important as the motor of the world economy.
~ George Soros ~
Recently we have seen financial markets sometimes move more like a wrecking ball, knocking over one economy after another.
~ George Soros quotes ~
Something really is broken in the international financial architecture ... We're now in the 20th month of financial crisis. Yet this crisis was brewing, it was the most anticipated crisis in recent history.
~ George Soros ~
We live in a global economy, but the political organization of our global society is woefully inadequate. We are bereft of the capacity to preserve peace and to counteract the excesses of the financial markets. Without these controls, the global economy, is liable to break down
~ George Soros quotes on globalization ~
I advocate an alliance of democratic states, with a dual purpose. One, to promote what I call open society. I talk about an alliance of open societies which would first foster the development of open societies within individual countries, because there's a lot that needs to be done in that effort. And secondly, to establish basic international law and international institutions that you need for a global, open society. So that's my sort of broad concept. Now, I have not worked out the details, because I don't think it's for me to work out the details. It's for them to work out the details.
~ George Soros ~
The development of a global economy has not been matched by the development of a global society. The basic unit for political and social life remains the nation-state. International law and international institutions, insofar as they exist, are not strong enough to prevent war or the large-scale abuse of human rights in individual countries. Ecological threats are not adequately dealt with. Global financial markets are largely beyond the control of national or international authorities.
~ George Soros globalization quotes ~
Money is closely connected with credit but the role of credit is less well understood than the role of money. This is not surprising because credit is a reflexive phenomenon. Credit is extended against collateral or some other evidence of credit worthiness and the value of the collateral as well as the measurements of creditworthiness are reflexive in character because credit worthiness is in the eye of the creditor. The value of collateral is influenced by the availability of credit. This is particularly true for real estate. Banks are usually willing to lend against real estate and the main variable in the value of real estate is the amount the banks are willing to lend against it. Strange as it may seem, the reflexive connection is not recognised in theory and it is often forgotten in practice. Construction is notorious for its boom/bust character and after each bust bank managers become very cautious and resolve never to become so exposed again. But when they again awash with liquidity and desperate to put money to work, a new cycle begins.
~ George Soros quotes on banks and credit ~
Financial markets are supposed to swing like a pendulum: They may fluctuate wildly in response to exogenous shocks, but eventually they are supposed to come to rest at an equilibrium point and that point is supposed to be the same irrespective of the interim fluctuations. Instead, as I told Congress, financial markets behaved more like a wrecking ball, swinging from country to country and knocking over the weaker ones. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the international financial system itself constituted the main ingredient in the meltdown process.
~ George Soros free market quotes ~
Stock market bubbles don't grow out of thin air. They have a solid basis in reality, but reality as distorted by a misconception.
~ George Soros ~
The simple truth is that the private sector does not employ available resources. Mr. Obama has in fact been very friendly to business, and corporations are operating profitably. But instead of investing, they are building up liquidity. Perhaps a Republican victory would boost their confidence, but in the meantime, investment and employment require fiscal stimulus.
~ George Soros quotes about economy ~ (from: Financial Times, Oct. 4, 2010)
There's (a) problem that I think is brewing, and that is the end of the housing boom in the United States and the ability of households to spend more than they earn because the value of their house is rising.
~ George Soros quotes ~
As the housing boom cools off, there will be a shortfall in demand (which will) affect the global economy.
~ George Soros ~
I think this is a great opportunity to finally deal with global warming and energy dependence. The US needs a cap and trade system with auctioning of licenses for emissions rights. I would use the revenues from these auctions to launch a new, environmentally friendly energy policy. That would be yet another federal program that could help us to overcome the current stagnation.
~ George Soros ~
If investing is entertaining, if you're having fun, you're probably not making any money. Good investing is boring.
~ George Soros ~
George Soros Quotes on Politics, Terrorism and War
My main concern is with the world order. (...) The world order needs a major overhaul.
~ George Soros ~ (from: 'The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror')
I argue that it's appropriate for people to pursue their profit motive in business. If you want to change that, you're going against human nature. But when it comes to setting the rules or creating the institutions, then you should have the general interest at heart, even if it conflicts with your personal interest.
~ George Soros ~
If you have the rule of law, then you're going to get investment in factories. You have to assure or give a sense of assurance to investors in direct investments that they will be fairly treated and that their property rights are respected.
~ Quotes by George Soros ~
Let me say a few words about myself. You may know me as a successful hedgefund manager, now retired, who knows a thing or two about financial markets. But I am also a fervent believer of the European Union as an embodiment of the ideal of an open society and I dont want the euro to destroy it. I have a network of open society foundations which are active in various parts of the world and I can testify from personal experience that the world needs a strong and prosperous Europe devoted to the principles of open society.
~ George Soros ~
We really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order, financial world order. They are kind of reluctant members of the IMF. They play along. But they dont make much of a contribution because it is not their institution. I think you need a new world order: China has to be a part of the process of creating it and they have to buy in. They have to own it.
~ George Soros ~
Well, certainly a decline in the value of the dollar is necessary in order to compensate for the fact that the US economy will remain rather weak, will be a drag on the global economy. China will emerge as the motor replacing the US consumer and, of course, its a smaller motor because the Chinese economy is much smaller. So the world economy will have less of a motor, so it will move forward slower than it has in the last 25 years. But China will be the engine driving it forward and the US will be actually a drag thats being pulled along through a gradual decline in the value of the dollar. So there would be a slow decline in the value of the dollar. A Managed decline. That would be the adjustment that it needs to be accomplished. Now it could actually get out of hand and certainly the fear of inflation will precede inflation itself.
~ George Soros ~
When you try to improve society, you affect different people with different interests differently... And they are not actually commensurate, so you very often have all kinds of unintended, adverse consequences. So, I had to experiment and it was a learning process. The first part was this subversive activity disrupting repressive regimes. That was a lot of fun. And that's actually what got me hooked on this whole enterprise.
~ George Soros ~ (from: The Glenn Beck Show, Nov. 10, 2010)
You see, for the last 25 years the world economy, the motor of the world economy that has been driving it was consumption by the American consumer who has been spending more than he has been saving, all right? Than hes been producing. So that motor is now switched off. Its finished. Its run out of - cant continue. You need a new motor. And we have a big problem. Global warming. It requires big investment. And that could be the motor of the world economy in the years to come Instead of consuming, building an electricity grid, saving on energy, rewiring the houses, adjusting your lifestyle where energy has got to cost more until you introduce those new things. So it will be painful. But at least we will survive and not cook.
~ George Soros ~
It is much easier to put existing resources to better use, than to develop resources where they do not exist.
~ George Soros ~
Most of the poverty and misery in the world is due to bad government, lack of democracy, weak states, internal strife, and so on. We do need to intervene, to improve political and economic conditions inside countries that have bad governments, where people are suffering. One way of doing this, without violating sovereignty, is through constructive actions - reinforcements and incentives for countries that are moving in the right direction, toward an open society, a market economy, et cetera. That is what I'm advocating. I'm advocating preventive action of a constructive nature. And I would use military force only as the very last resort, when nothing else works.
~ George Soros ~
It's more difficult, you know, to bring about positive change than it is to make money. It's much easier to make money, because it's a much easier way to measure success - the bottom line. When it comes to social consequences, they've got all different people acting in different ways, very difficult to even have a proper criterion of success. So, it's a difficult task. Why not use an entrepreneurial, rather than a bureaucratic, approach. As long as people genuinely care for the people they're trying to help, they can actually do a lot of good.
~ George Soros quotations ~
We are the most powerful nation on earth. No external power, no terrorist organization, can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire.
~ George Soros ~
We must recognize that as the dominant power in the world we have a special responsibility. In addition to protecting our national interests, we must take the leadership in protecting the common interests of humanity.
~ George Soros ~
Americans, sadly, are now victims who have turned into perpetrators. Indeed, since September 2001, the war on terror has claimed more innocent victims than those terrorist attacks. This fact is unrecognized at home because the victims of the war on terror are not Americans. But the rest of the world does not draw the same distinction, and world opinion has turned against America.
~ George Soros war on terror quotes ~
Now look at the ideology of American supremacy. It has a solid foundation in reality; namely, the United States is the dominant power in the world. The current government believes the United States ought to use this dominant position to impose its will on the world. That is the misconception. This approach is not what made America great. America did not arrive at its dominant position by imposing its will on the world.
~ George Soros ~
The supremacist ideology of the Bush Administration stands in opposition to the principles of an open society, which recognize that people have different views and that nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth. The supremacist ideology postulates that just because we are stronger than others, we know better and have right on our side. The very first sentence of the September 2002 National Security Strategy (the President's annual laying out to Congress of the country's security objectives) reads, 'The great struggles of the twentieth century between liberty and totalitarianism ended with a decisive victory for the forces of freedom and a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise.' The assumptions behind this statement are false on two counts. First, there is no single sustainable model for national success. Second, the American model, which has indeed been successful, is not available to others, because our success depends greatly on our dominant position at the center of the global capitalist system, and we are not willing to yield it.
~ George Soros quotations on freedom and America ~
I find the idea that you can introduce democracy by military force a very quaint idea. Moreover, if I wanted to choose a testing ground for doing it, Iraq would be the last nation I would choose.
~ George Soros democracy quotes ~
President Bush inadvertently played right into the hands of bin Laden. The invasion of Afghanistan was justified: that was where bin Laden lived and al Qaeda had its training camps. The invasion of Iraq was not similarly justified. It was President Bush's unintended gift to bin Laden.
~ George Soros war quotes ~
War is a false and misleading metaphor in the context of combating terrorism. Crimes require police work, not military action.
~ George Soros terrorism quotes ~ (fro: The Glenn Beck Show, Nov. 9, 2010)
The war in Iraq was misconceived from start to finish - if it has a finish. It is a war of choice, not of necessity, as President Bush claims. It goes without saying that Saddam was a tyrant, and it is good to be rid of him. But in invading Iraq as we did, without a second UN resolution, we violated international law. By mistreating and even torturing prisoners, we violated the Geneva conventions. President Bush has boasted that we do not need a permission slip from the international community, but our disregard for international law has endangered our security, particularly the security of our troops.
~ George Soros democracy quotes ~
An open society is always in danger. It must constantly reaffirm its principles in order to survive. We are being sorely tested, first by 9/11 and then by President Bush's response. To pass the test we must face reality instead of finding solace in false certainties.
~ George Soros quotes about democracy ~
The Republican Party has been captured by a bunch of extremists: People who maintain that markets will take care of everything, that you leave it to the markets, and the markets know best. Therefore, you need no government, no interference with business. Let everybody pursue his own interests. And that will serve the common interest. Now, there is a good foundation for this. But it's a half-truth.
~ George Soros quotes about democracy ~
We are losing the values that have made America great. The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center was such a horrendous event that it required a strong response. But the President committed a fundamental error in thinking: the fact that the terrorists are manifestly evil does not make whatever counter-actions we take automatically good. What we do to combat terrorism may also be wrong. Recognizing that we may be wrong is the foundation of an open society.
~ George Soros quotes about the war on terror ~
War and occupation create innocent victims. We count the body bags of American soldiers; there have been more than 1000 in Iraq. The rest of the world also looks at the Iraqis who get killed daily. There have been 15 times more. Some were trying to kill our soldiers; far too many were totally innocent, including many women and children. Every innocent death helps the terrorists' cause by stirring anger against America and bringing them potential recruits.
~ George Soros quotes on the war on terror ~
How can we escape from the trap that the terrorists have set us? Only by recognizing that the war on terrorism cannot be won by waging war. We must, of course, protect our security; but we must also correct the grievances on which terrorism feeds. Crime requires police work, not military action.
~ George Soros quotes on terrorism ~
I should like to challenge the very concept of the "war on terror." It is a metaphor that needs to be challenged because it has been accepted uncritically and applied literally. If anybody dares to say that there is something wrong with framing the struggle against terrorism as "the war on terror," it is immediately assumed that there is something wrong with him. So nobody dares to say it yet it needs to be said because the war on terror as we have waged it since 9/11 has done more harm than good. It has not prevented terrorist attacks around the world yet it has diverted our attention from other vital tasks (like strengthening the levees in New Orleans), damaged our dominant position in the world and endangered our open society.
~ George Soros war on terror quotes ~ (in the Wall Street Journal)
Bush's war in Iraq has done untold damage to the United States. It has impaired our military power and undermined the morale of our armed forces. Our troops were trained to project overwhelming power. They were not trained for occupation duties.
~ George Soros quotes about war ~
This is the most important election of my lifetime. I have never been heavily involved in partisan politics but these are not normal times. President Bush is endangering our safety, hurting our vital interests and undermining American values. That is why I am publishing this message. I have been demonized by the Bush campaign but I hope you will give me a hearing.
~ George Soros ~
If the terrorists have the sympathy of people, it's much harder to find them. So we need people on our side, and that leads us to be responsible leaders of the world, show some concern with the problems.
~ George Soros quotes about terrorists ~
There is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. The policies of the Bush administration and the Sharon administration contribute to that. It's not specifically anti-Semitism, but it does manifest itself in anti-Semitism as well.
~ George Soros ~
George Soros Quotes on Fox News (an Ultra-Conservative TV-Network)
Fox News makes a habit ... it has imported the methods of George Orwell - Newspeak - where you can tell the people falsehoods and deceive them ... You wouldn't believe that in an open society, a democracy, these methods can succeed. But actually they did succeed, they succeeded in Germany where the Weimar Republic collapsed and you had the Nazi regime following. So this is a very, very dangerous way of deceiving people, and I would like people to be aware that they are being deceived ... Because I saw it as a child, I immediately react that way; but people in America are innocent, they haven't had that experience; they're having the experience now, and I hope they wake up and realize they are being deceived.
~ George Soros ~
Despite repeated assertions to the contrary by various Fox News commentators, I have not to date been a funder of Media Matters. However, in view of recent evidence suggesting that the incendiary rhetoric of Fox News hosts may incite violence, I have now decided to support the organization. Media Matters is one of the few groups that attempts to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast. I am supporting Media Matters in an effort to more widely publicize the challenge Fox News poses to civil and informed discourse in our democracy.
~ George Soros ~
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