“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. About the future, not so much.”

I assure this committee that, if I am confirmed, I will be strictly independent of all political influences… essential to that institution’s ability to function effectively and achieve its mandated objectives.

Life is amazingly unpredictable; any 22-year-old who thinks they know where they will be in 10 years, much less in 30, is simply lacking imagination.

I am confident that we will meet whatever challenges the future may bring.

The crisis in Europe has affected the US economy by acting as a drag on our exports, weighing on business and consumer confidence and pressuring US financial markets and institutions.

The central bank needs to be able to make policy without short term political concerns.

A money-financed tax cut is essentially equivalent to Milton Friedman’s famous ‘helicopter drop’ of money.

The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have – great universities. We have entrepreneurs.

The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.

The more important reason is that the research itself provides an important long-run perspective on the issues that we face on a day-to-day basis.

I come from Main Street, from a small town that’s really depressed.

Every effort needs to be made to try and offset the costs of Katrina and Rita by reductions in other government programs, especially those that are wasteful, duplicative and ineffective.

I don’t see much evidence of an equity bubble.

Education – lifelong education for everyone – from toddlers to workers well advanced in their careers – is indeed an excellent investment for individuals and society as a whole.

It must be awfully frustrating to get a small raise at work and then have it all eaten by a higher cost of commuting.

The impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime markets seems likely to be contained.

Our mission, as set forth by the Congress is a critical one: to preserve price stability, to foster maximum sustainable growth in output and employment, and to promote a stable and efficient financial system that serves all Americans well and fairly.

There are times we spent money when we shouldn’t, the choices we make define the results we get

Choices not chance determine your destiny.

If you’re doing an indie and you have time, sometimes you can do take after take after take, but if you’re working in television on that filming schedule,

If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it’s a human need.

It is because of our unassailable enthusiasm, our profound reverence for education, that we habitually demand of it the impossible. The teacher is expected to perform a choice and varied series of miracles.

The decision to feed the world is the real decision. No revolution has chosen it. For that choice requires that women shall be free.

I have a few minor rules for myself but I break them all the time. For example, when translating from Romance languages to English, there is often a choice between a Latinate cognate and a Germanic equivalent.

I called it a baptism in flaming ink that forced me to shed my shyness about recognizing myself