Ben Bernanke

“The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.”

“Monetary policy cannot do everything.”

“The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.”

“A determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.”

“The lesson of history is that you do not get a sustained economic recovery as long as the financial system is in crisis.”

“Monetary policy is not a panacea.”

“The sources of deflation are not a mystery. Deflation is in almost all cases a side effect of a collapse of aggregate demand.”

“A healthy economy requires a strong and stable financial system.”

“The financial crisis of 2008 was a classic financial panic, but it was a financial panic in a new and more complex financial system.”

“Economics is a highly sophisticated field of thought that is superb at explaining to policymakers precisely why the choices they made in the past were wrong.”

“Nobody likes to be criticized, but I think it's fair to say that the Fed has been the most transparent central bank in the history of the world.”

“The problem with QE is it works in practice, but it doesn't work in theory.”

“It's the price of success: people start to think you're omnipotent.”

“Regulation is a blunt instrument. It is not a scalpel.”

“If you are not happy while you are getting rich, chances are that you will not be happy when you do get rich.”

“To have a healthy economy, you need a healthy financial system.”