Thomas Friedman Quotes

“When I was growing up, my parents told me, 'Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving.' I tell my daughters, 'Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job.'”

People Jobs Mother Parent Education Growing Up Growing Daughter India China Dinner My Daughter Starving Homework China And India World Is Flat

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I was in Bangalore, India, the Silicon Valley of India, when I realized that the world was flat.”

World India I Realized Flats Valleys Silicon Silicon Valley World Is Flat Bangalore

Author:Thomas Friedman

“Optimists are usually wrong. But all the great change in history, positive change, was done by optimists.”

Done Optimist Positive Change Great Change Changes In History

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I love America. I think it's the best country in the world. But I also think we're not tending to our sauce.”

Thinking World Country America Sauce Best Country World Is Flat

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I'm a capitalist. I believe in capitalism. But capitalism only works if you have safety nets to deal with people who are naturally left behind and brutalized by it.”

People Ifs Believe Left I Believe Deals Behinds Capitalism Safety I Believe In Capitalist Left Behind Safety Net

Author:Thomas Friedman

“In Globalization 1.0, which began around 1492, the world went from size large to size medium. In Globalization 2.0, the era that introduced us to multinational companies, it went from size medium to size small. And then around 2000 came Globalization 3.0, in which the world went from being small to tiny.”

World Company Size Tiny Mediums Eras Globalization Multinationals World Is Flat

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I firmly believe that the next great breakthrough in bioscience could come from a 15-year-old who downloads the human genome in Egypt.”

Years Believe Humans Next Egypt Breakthrough Downloads Genome World Is Flat

Author:Thomas Friedman

“Rock stars get room keys, I get business cards.”

Stars Rooms Rocks Keys Cards Rock Star Business Card

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The historical debate is over. The answer is free-market capitalism.”

Answers Capitalism Historical Debate Free Market Free Market Capitalism

Book:The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

Source: The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

“Yes, the world is now flat for publishing as well.”

World Wells Flats Publishing

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I have a daughter who is a sophomore in college and another who is in the 11th grade of high school.”

School Mother College Daughter High School Grades Sophomore

Author:Thomas Friedman

“If you don't visit the bad neighborhoods, the bad neighborhoods are going to visit you.”

Ifs Life Success Neighborhood Visits You

Author:Thomas Friedman

“No, most of our political elite has not realized that the world is flat.”

World Political Flats Elites World Is Flat

Author:Thomas Friedman

“Rock stars get room keys, I get business cards. Wherever I go I meet innovators of wind power equipment, solar energy operators.”

Energy Stars Rooms Rocks Wind Keys Cards Equipment Rock Star Innovators Operators Solar Energy Business Card Wind Power

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist.”

Hands Fists

Book:The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

Source: The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization

“Basically all the world's computer parts come from the same supply chain that runs from Korea, down through coastal China, over to Taiwan, and down to Malaysia.”

World Running Computer China Chains Ties Korea Taiwan Malaysia Coastal Supply Chain

Author:Thomas Friedman

“If you followed this economic crisis and you do not think that the world is getting flatter, you are not paying attention. We saw the entire global economy at one time acting totally in sync. The real truth is the world is even flatter than I thought. Our mortgage crisis is killing Deutsche Bank. You still don't think the world is flat?”

“A golf course should aspire to generate as much energy as it consumes - golf should be leading the way toward energy net zero.”

Way Should Courses Energy Golf Zero Aspire Golf Course Leading The Way

Author:Thomas Friedman

“America needs rebooting.”

Needs America

Author:Thomas Friedman

“Do you know what my favorite renewable fuel is? An ecosystem for innovation.”

Knows Innovation My Favorite Fuel Do You Know Ecosystems

Author:Thomas Friedman

“Every golf course should have its carbon rating on the scorecard, alongside its Course Rating, Slope, par and yardage.”

Should Courses Should Have Golf Carbon Rating Golf Course Slopes

Author:Thomas Friedman

“Every sport needs its temple, its cathedral.”

Needs Sports Temples Cathedrals

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I attended public school with the same group of kids from K through 12.”

Kids School Groups Public School

Book:That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back

Source: That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back

“I said that more people in more places can now compete, connect and collaborate with equal power and equal tools than ever before.”

People Said Equal Tools Bangalore Equal Power

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I'm from Minnesota. I'm optimistic. I mean, that's just who I am.”

Mean Who I Am Optimistic Minnesota

Author:Thomas Friedman

“If you don't have an ethic of conservation, you basically have a license to drive a Hummer through the Amazon.”

Ifs Ethics Conservation License Amazon

Author:Thomas Friedman

“McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the builder of the F-15.”

Designer Mcdonalds

Author:Thomas Friedman

“My mom enlisted in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and my parents actually bought our home thanks to the loan she got through the GI Bill.”

World War Home Parent Mom Bills My Mom Thanks War Of The Worlds World War Ii Navy Loan Enlisted Gis

Book:That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back

Source: That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back

“There is no substitute for face-to-face reporting and research.”

Faces Research Substitutes Face To Face

Author:Thomas Friedman

“We are led by lawyers who do not understand either technology or balance sheets.”

Technology Feet Balance Lawyer Sheets Balance Sheets

Author:Thomas Friedman

“What is al Qaeda? It's an open source religious political movement that works off the global supply chain.”

Political Religious Movement Source Chains Als Al Qaeda Open Source Political Movements Supply Chain

Author:Thomas Friedman

“You'll know the green revolution has been won when the word 'green' disappears.”

Knows Has Beens Revolution Green Disappear Green Revolution

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention argues that no two countries that are both part of the same global supply chain will ever fight a war as long as they are each part of that supply chain.”

Long Two War Country Fighting Theory Conflict Arguing Chains Ties Prevention Supply Chain Two Countries Dell

Author:Thomas Friedman

“There's a difference between being able to make long distance phone calls cheaper on the Internet and walking around Riyadh with a PDA where you can have all of Google in your pocket. It's a difference in degree that's so enormous it becomes a difference in kind.”

Kind Long Able Differences Internet Walking Degrees Distance Phones Enormous Pockets Google Cheaper Phone Calls Long Distance Pda Riyadh

Author:Thomas Friedman

“You take one bomber and deploy him in Baghdad, and another is manufactured in Riyadh the next day. It's exactly like when you take the toy off the shelf at Wal-Mart and another is made in Shen Zhen the next day.”

Made Next Toys Shelves Next Day Baghdad Bombers World Is Flat Riyadh

Author:Thomas Friedman

“By 'flat' I did not mean that the world is getting equal. I said that more people in more places can now compete, connect and collaborate with equal power and equal tools than ever before. That's why an Indian in Bangalore can take care of the office work of American doctors or read the X-rays of German hospitals.”

People World Mean Said Care Equal Office Tools Doctors Take Care Indian Flats Hospitals Rays Office Work Bangalore Equal Power

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I think we have lost our groove as a country. One of the reasons was the attack on 9/11. We got knocked off our game. From a country that always exported hope we went into the business of exporting fear.”

Thinking Country Reason Games Lost Groove Exporting

Author:Thomas Friedman

“It created a global platform that allowed more people to plug and play, collaborate and compete, share knowledge and share work, than anything we have ever seen in the history of the world.”

People World Play Share Platforms World History Plugs Sharing Knowledge

Author:Thomas Friedman

“Several technological and political forces have converged, and that has produced a global, Web-enabled playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration without regard to geography or distance - or soon, even language.”

Form Political Language Force Fields Regard Distance Collaboration Multiple Technological Geography Playing Fields

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The country that owns green, that dominates that industry, is going to have the most energy security, national security, economic security, competitive companies, healthy population and, most of all, global respect.”

Country Energy Company Economic Security Industry Healthy Green Population National Security Economic Security Energy Security

Author:Thomas Friedman

“We've gone from thinking the fuels that powered our growth were inexpensive, inexhaustible and benign to understanding they are exhaustible, expensive and toxic. Once you frame the problem that way, people will look at solutions differently.”

People Thinking Way Looks Problem Understanding Growth Gone Solutions Fuel Expensive Toxic Benign Inexpensive

Author:Thomas Friedman

“I have no problem with a war for oil-if we accompany it with a real program for energy conservation. But when we tell the world we couldn't care less about climate change, that we feel entitled to drive whatever big cars we feel like, that we feel entitled to consume however much oil we like, the message we send is that a war for oil in the gulf is not a war to protect the world's right to economic survival-but our right to indulge. Now that will be seen as immoral.”

“Just because we can't sell shares in nature doesn't mean it has no value.”

Mean Values Environment Share Sells Vistas Clean Air

Book:Hot, flat, and crowded: why the world needs a green revolution, and how we can renew our global future

Source: Hot, flat, and crowded: why the world needs a green revolution, and how we can renew our global future

“Only if you give the Palestinians something to lose is there a hope that they will agree to moderate their demands.... I believe that as soon as Ahmed has a seat in the bus, he will limit his demands.”

Ifs Giving Believe I Believe Loses Demand Limits Agree Seats Bus Palestinian Moderates

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The Golden Straitjacket is the defining political-economic garment of globalization. [...] The tighter you wear it, the more gold it produces.”

Political Economic Produce Gold Golden Globalization Defining Garments

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The first rule of holes is when you're in one, stop digging. When you're in three, bring a lot of shovels.”

Firsts Three Holes Digging Shovels

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The only engine big enough to impact Mother Nature is Father Greed.”

Enough Bigs Mother Father Impact Greed Engines Mother Nature

Author:Thomas Friedman

“You really do have to wonder whether a few years from now we’ll look back at the first decade of the 21st century — when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population surged, tornados plowed through cities, floods and droughts set records, populations were displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence of it all — and ask ourselves: What were we thinking? How did we not panic when the evidence was so obvious that we’d crossed some growth/climate/natural resource/population redlines all at once?”

“There is something more severe than the problem with Thomas Friedman, which can be generalized to represent someone causing action while being completely unaccountable for his words.”

Problem Action Severe

Author:Thomas Friedman

“The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once remarked that if you ask a man how much is two plus two and he tells you five, that is a mistake. But if you ask a man how much is two plus two and he tells you ninety-seven, that is no longer a mistake. The man you are talking to is operating with a wholly different logic from your own.”

Ifs Men Two Different Asks Mistake Talking Five He Man Logic Seven Philosopher Plus Ninety

Author:Thomas Friedman

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