Ai Weiwei Quotes

China is more prosperous than before. The people have better lives but they are not happy and confident because the scars are still there.

Our goal is to upgrade the life of China's middle class. We all want to live better.

Society’s willingness to provide for the poor among them increases when the standard of living is advancing.

I don't think any of us ran for the United States Senate to preside over the lowering of the American standard of living.

We are the greatest trading country in the world because we have the greatest exportation of the growth and product of our land and of the manufacture and labor of our people; and the greatest importation and consumption of the growth, product, and manufactures of other countries from abroad, of any nation in the world.

Life is better when people are working, happy, and spending money.

I think there is some kind of disillusionment in the West about the gains of modernity and of economic growth and it takes a form of skepticism about the gains of prosperity generally.

I think there's too much emphasis on making sure our corporations are OK versus making sure our people are OK.

You know, without China there is no Wal-Mart and without Wal-Mart there is no middle class and lower class prosperity in the United States.

When you talk about war on poverty it doesn't mean very much; but if you can show to some degree this sort of thing then you can show a great deal more of how people are living and a very great percentage of our people today.

Today, being the biggest developing countries in the world, China and India are both committed to developing their economy and raising their people's living standards.

America's real business leaders understand unless or until the middle class regains its footing and its faith, capitalism remains vulnerable.

The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income as defined by the GDP.

What seems extraordinary is that the richest countries in the world, in terms of economic output, are the ones where we work hardest.

No nation was ever ruined by trade.

Show business is part of a larger culture, a world-wide culture that must make up to the fact that the accumulation of things doesn't make a life necessary any happier or purposeful.

Most rich countries have reported increases in happiness as they become richer.

I am a social democrat - I believe in pursuing greater equality and tackling social justice - but... you can't do that unless you have got a strong economy, unless you have got a vibrant business base earning the wealth that makes that possible.

Inequality makes everyone unhappy, the poor most of all, and that is well within the remit of the state. More money gives less extra happiness the richer we get, yet we are addicted to earning and spending more every year.

By definition, by reducing our trade deficit we will be hurting consumers. Consumers are always better off with a trade deficit.

It was once supposed that only the rich were entitled to luxury. Now we are beginning to see that participation in the benefits of the machine civilization must be as widespread as possible if any group is to have prosperity.

The commerce of the United States is essential, if not to their existence, at least to their comfort, their growth, prosperity, and happiness. The genius, character, and habits of the people are highly commercial. Their cities have been formed and exist upon commerce. Our agriculture, fisheries, arts, and manufactures are connected with and depend upon it. In short, commerce has made this country what it is, and it can not be destroyed or neglected without involving the people in poverty and distress.

The soil of no country is rich enough to attain a great mass of wealth, merely by the exchange and exportation of its own natural product.

We want to export our products but not our jobs.

Those who whine incessantly and maintain the romantic notion of a self-contained market speak against the interests of American workers and a growing standard of living. They are trafficking in fear and promoting ignorance while advancing their own political ambitions. No great nation has ever increased its worth over time by closing its markets. In fact, history is replete with examples of closed markets leading to destructive economic consequences.