James Wolfensohn Quotes
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I'm not at all sure that Israel can determine what happens in Palestine, the Palestinian territories.
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The Bank had never used the word 'corruption' at all until I got there, and the reason for that was, as the general counsel pointed out to me, that quite a number of our shareholders represented were not immune from corruption in their governments.
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I believe and still believe that the Chinese government puts great weight on the experience of the Bank in terms of development.
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You don't succeed on corruption in five minutes. I wish one could.
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You need to have a secure Israel, which is very clear, and you need to have a Palestinian community that feels it can have hope.
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We have three billion people, half the world's population today, living on less than two dollars a day.
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In a democracy, you can be right and still lose power.
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The interesting thing about debt in most cases is that you have to pay it back. So if you build an overhang of debt, it becomes more and more limiting in terms of the prospect that you have.
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It's probably conventional wisdom now that you bring openness of markets only after the market has developed to a certain level.
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We have made a full frontal attack on corruption. The question is whether we can address the question of governance in developing countries and, particularly, corruption.
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My view is to try and not demonize the Palestinians. I'm not denying that there are Palestinians who fire rockets and do terrible things; I know that that happens. But to get a fundamental solution, you have to have hope on both sides.
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The only way really to influence countries, in terms of poverty, is to get them to change their policies and get them to understand what the issues are.
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I saw it with my own eyes: Israelis and Palestinians, arm in arm, walking off together and clearly pricing how you could get your truck to the top of the line or get it through at all. It was an absolutely transparently corrupt system at the border - you had to buy your truck's way across. I thought it was a disgrace.
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China never borrowed less than $3 billion a year during my tenure. They were the most significant client. They used the Bank not just for money but for the know-how.
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Many people of my generation grew up in developed countries thinking that the world was divided into two parts and that there was a wall round the developed world. They thought that poor people had no relevance to us. What happened on September 11 was that anybody who thought there was a wall now knows that there is no wall.
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Well the specific role of the World Bank is to be ready with financial assistance immediately after this emergency takes place because you need to reconnect water, you need to reconnect power, you need roads, you need bridges, and that has to be done urgently.
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But when someone is on a winning horse, and everything looks wonderful, it's very hard as an outsider to persuade them something is wrong.
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If you have Palestinians who have no hope, who don't have a job, who've used up all their resources, the notion of getting rid of violence is a dream.
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I think that so-called capitalism and trade is a very important element in giving people opportunity.
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When I travel, I make certain that I spend at least half of my time in the field. You have to get out to meet people that are in poverty, that are looking to improve their lives. That's something that you can't read in books.
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It is possible to have a public education system that works.
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My observation on most people in national governments is that they have very little interest in and very little knowledge of the multinational institutions.
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Most people recognize that to create jobs is really the essential element in their drive against poverty.
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I was deeply concerned then, and have become more concerned since, that unless we can deal with the questions of development and the questions of poverty, there's no way that we're going to have a peaceful world for our children.