Bankers quotes
167 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
"The main mark of modern governments is that we do not know who governs, de facto any more than de jure. We see the politician and not his backer; still less the backer of the backer; or, what is most important of all, the banker of the backer."
"There is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."
"I do not think you can trust bankers to control themselves. They are like heroin addicts."
"When bankers get together they talk about art. When artists get together, they talk about money."
"The bankers might not have said it in so many words, but gradually their strategy emerged: Target families who were already in a little trouble, lend them more money, get them entangled in high fees and astronomical interest rates, and then block the doors to the bankruptcy exit if they really got in over their heads."
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside bankers — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"Poets are mysterious, but a poet when all is said is not much more mysterious than a banker."
"What does it feel like to represent a newspaper that used to support Adolf Hitler? And supports the banker Kabbalists that are ruining the world? Did you vote Tory?"
"There are only seven movie stars in the world whose name alone will induce American bankers to lend money for movie productions, and the only woman on the list is Ingrid Bergman."
"It is easier to rob by setting up a bank than by holding up a bank clerk."
"When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation"
"The general culture of investment banking has deteriorated over the years. We did a $6 million deal years ago for Diversified Retailing and we were rigorously and intelligently screened. They bankers cared and wanted to protect their clients. The culture now is that anything that can be sold for a profit will be. 'Can you sell it?' is the moral test, and that's not an adequate test."
"Compound interest on debt was the banker's greatest invention, to capture, and enslave, a productive society."
"The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor."
"I went to the bank and proposed that they lend money to the poor people. The bankers almost fell over."
"A banker who is allowed to borrow money at X and loan it out at X plus Y will just go crazy and do too much of it if the civilization doesn't have rules that prevent it."
"When I trade, I don't have an agency problem; I have my neck on the line. When a bank or banker trades, it's not his neck on the line."
"I hesitate to deposit money in a bank. I am afraid I shall never dare to take it out again. When you go to confession and entrust your sins to the safe-keeping of the priest, do you ever come back for them?"
"I hesitate to deposit money in a bank. I am afraid I shall never dare to take it out again"
"Shopkeepers are not bankers."
"There was a time traditionally - say, GM in the 1950s - it was trying to develop a consumer base that would be loyal and lasting and they were thinking in terms of an institution that would remain and grow and thrive in the society. By now, a lot of the investment firms - bankers, hedge funds - are perfectly happy to destroy what they're in and come out with huge, tremendous benefits. That's a new stage of capitalism."
"When bankers get into business they usually destroy it."
"Bankers play far too great a part in the conduct of industry."
"Money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace & conspire against it in times of adversity."
"As the original 'Mary Poppins' budget of five million dollars continued to grow, I never saw a sad face around the entire Studio. And this made me nervous. I knew the picture would have to gross 10 million dollars for us to break even. But still there was no negative head-shaking. No prophets of doom. Even Roy was happy. He didn't even ask me to show the unfinished picture to a banker. The horrible thought struck me - suppose the staff had finally conceded that I knew what I was doing."
"This proletarianization of the lower salaried bourgeoisie is accompanied by an excess in the opposite direction: the irrationally high pay of top managers and bankers, a level of remuneration that is economically irrational since, as investigations in the US have demonstrated, it tends to be inversely proportional to the company's success."
