Ben Bernanke Quotes

America is a meritocracy.

I think this country is genuinely a meritocracy.

As Americans, I think we really believe that with the meritocracy that exists in our country, the equality of opportunity is so important to the foundation of our culture and our society.

I don't think the world works on merit.

Some people can work their butts off and never get what they're aiming for while others can get it without any effort at all.

To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages today that determine success--the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history--with a society that provides opportunities for all.

Everybody should have an equal chance - but they shouldn't have a flying start.

In a country where there is no privileged class, genius and industry may attain the highest honors.

Whatever we do, whatever our backgrounds, we've all had some kind of advantage somewhere along the way. Some break that might have gone to someone else. Some edge or inside track we couldn't have counted on.

Obama is the splendid fruit of a meritocracy.

The status quo is never happy when things become a meritocracy.

If your only opportunity is to be equal then it is not opportunity.

Fairness is not the end result, it's the opportunity. And everybody in America today has the opportunity to get ahead.

Don't get me wrong: I think that everyone should put forth an effort to do better, but let's face it, some of us are just plain luckier than others.

I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy - I don't disparage envy, but I don't accept it as legitimately my master.

I am a young, white, educated male. I got really, really lucky. And life isn't fair.

I'm aware of the fact that a lot of talented people out there will never get this chance.

Are we a nation of guarantees or are we a nation of opportunities to achieve the American dream?

Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent.

We know that in our free market economy some will prosper more than others. What we don't accept is the idea that some folks won't even get a chance.

The modern world is a meritocracy where you earn your own luck, old school ties count for nothing, and inherited privilege can even lose a guy a clear parliamentary majority.

Even in its third century, America is still the most meritocratic nation in the world.

I don't think anybody can claim success at any part of our lives, private or professional, if there are others that don't enjoy the same opportunities.

Conservatives often say that we should care not about equality of outcomes but about equality of opportunity.

The America that I think most Americans would want, most economists on the right or left would want, is one in which a smart, ambitious, hardworking person without a huge amount of resources has a pretty good shot, in the end, of beating out a less smart, less ambitious, less hardworking rich person.