“I love America. I think it's the best country in the world. But I also think we're not tending to our sauce.” ThinkingWorldCountryAmericaSauceBest CountryWorld Is Flat 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?” IfsThinkingWorldStillsRealActingAttentionEconomySawsEconomicTruth IsCrisisKillingPay AttentionFlatsOne TimeMortgageGlobal EconomyEconomic CrisisSyncReal TruthWorld Is FlatMortgage Crisis 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.” ThinkingCountryReasonGamesLostGrooveExporting 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.” PeopleThinkingWayLooksProblemUnderstandingGrowthGoneSolutionsFuelExpensiveToxicBenignInexpensive 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?” ThinkingWorldYearsFirstsLooksGovernmentAsksEnergyGrowthNaturalCitiesWonderRecordsCenturyEvidenceResourcesClimatePopulationObviousDecadesPanicFlood21st CenturyThreatenedNatural ResourcesDroughtWorld PopulationConfluence Author:Thomas Friedman
“We've given Iraq six months and I don't think things are really working out, so we should probably bring our troops home.” ThinkingShouldHomeGivenMonthsSixIraqWork OutTroopsSix MonthsOur Troops Author:Thomas Friedman
“A 2011 report produced by Forrester Research estimated that the revenue generated through the sales of smartphone and tablet applications will reach $38 billion annually by 2015. Think about that: An industry that did not exist in 2006 will be generating $38 billion in revenues within a decade. . . .” ThinkingIndustryResearchDecadesBillionsReportsApplicationRevenueTabletsSmartphones 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 don't think that stability and the status quo go together at all, not in a flat world where people are integrated, where women are assuming new roles, where young people want to be consulted and participate. I think the trick is to open up, move down the path of reform, do it in a way that is consistent with your own society's stability and culture, and just don't think you can do nothing.” PeopleThinkingWorldWayWantTogetherMovingYoungCultureCan DoRolesPathAssumingTricksReformConsistentFlatsStabilityStatus QuoIntegrated Author:Thomas Friedman
“I don't think the Arab Spring had much to do with energy. I think it was just the opposite, in fact. I think the Arab Spring happened because particularly young people knew they were living in a context where they could not realize their full potential, that they are being kept down by their own governments.” PeopleThinkingFactsGovernmentYoungEnergyRealizingHappenedSpringOppositesFull PotentialArab Spring Author:Thomas Friedman
“I've always believed the world would be a better place if more people everywhere have a chance to shape their own future and realize their full potential. I think that is what life is about.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldWould BeLife IsRealizingChanceShapesBetter PlaceAlways BelieveFull Potential Author:Thomas Friedman
“When people get frustrated, it's when they feel they are living in a context that deprives them of dignity, deprives them of justice and deprives them of the freedom to realize their full potential, and that to me is what the Arab awakening was all about. I think it applied to every country, and so I have been an unmitigated supporter of it.” PeopleThinkingFeelsHas BeensCountryRealizingJusticeDignityAwakeningFrustratedSupporterFull Potential Author:Thomas Friedman
“I think that competition will exist even if we discover more oil. We're never going to know how much we have, or how long will it last. You are always going to want to have diversity of supply. I think the Middle East will remain a region of competition, of global competition, fighting for a long time.” IfsThinkingKnowsWantLongLastsFightingKnow HowMiddleDiversityLong TimeCompetitionOilEastRegionsMiddle East Author:Thomas Friedman
“I think that the drama of people rising up demanding their own freedom is one that resonates very deeply with America. I think that President Barack Obama has tried and would like to find a way to relate to the Arab Spring, but I think he also wants to be, rightly, very careful that we don't take it over. It is very important that they own this. He is trying to influence it this way but without, "We're so never going to go to the extreme of Iraq and putting boots on the ground again."” PeopleThinkingWayWantTryingImportantAmericaPresidentInfluenceDramaSpringIraqCarefulExtremesBarackRelateRisingOver ItBootsVery DeepPresident Barack ObamaRising UpArab Spring Author:Thomas Friedman
“I think there are different kinds of elites. I think there are venal elites, and self-interested elites, and selfish elites, and I think there are visionary elites.” ThinkingKindDifferentSelfSelfishDifferent KindsElitesVisionaries Author:Thomas Friedman
“The Arab world had a big problem of frankly venal elites. That is why these revolutions happen, because people didn't think the opportunities were being shared fairly.” PeopleThinkingWorldProblemBigsHappensOpportunityRevolutionElitesBig ProblemsArab World Author:Thomas Friedman
“I don't think we replaced the Soviet Union with Al Qaida. I think we replaced, we should have, Soviet Union with the merger of globalization and the IT revolution. I think it's that. That is the real challenge that we face today. Unlike the Soviet Union, it has no face, it has no missiles, but it is something that challenges every job, every city and every community.” ThinkingShouldRealTodayJobsFacesCommunityChallengesCitiesRevolutionShould HaveUnionsAlsSovietReplacedSoviet UnionGlobalizationMissilesMergers Author:Thomas Friedman
“I think the Arab awakening has changed everything and I think a lot will depend on what people there ask of us, may be nothing, it may be a lot. I think that really depends how they find their voice and what they see as their real interest, and hopefully that would be for more schools and not more tanks.” PeopleThinkingMayRealWould BeSchoolAsksVoiceInterestChangedDependsAwakeningHopefullyTanks Author:Thomas Friedman
“I think no country is going to be immune from the Arab awakening because the Arab awakening is driven by deep human longing for dignity, for justice and for freedom. I think that applies to young people in Saudi Arabia as much as to young people in Egypt, Tunisia, or Yemen, or Libya, or Syria. If I were in Saudi Arabia, I would be getting ahead of this and looking for ways to appreciate those aspirations and align my country with them.” PeopleIfsThinkingWayHumansCountryWould BeYoungJusticeAppreciateDignityLongingDrivenAwakeningAspirationSyriaEgyptImmuneArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisLibyaYemenTunisia Author:Thomas Friedman
“I don't think a monarchy led by 75- and 80-year-old men [Saudi Arabia] in today's modern world is really sustainable.” ThinkingMenWorldYearsTodayModernOld ManModern WorldMonarchyArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudis Author:Thomas Friedman
“Many of us who grew up playing golf know that our kids aren't doing it. A great way to enhance the game, make it cool again and bring back some of the interest among younger people is to make golf the greenest sport in an environmental sense. Every course's greenkeeper should think of himself or herself as the greenkeeper: responsible for preserving the green, not just the greens.” PeopleThinkingKidsSportsInterestResponsibleGolfEnvironmental Author:Thomas Friedman
“America is the greatest engine of innovation that has ever existed, and it can't be duplicated anytime soon, because it is the product of a multitude of factors: extreme freedom of thought, an emphasis on independent thinking, a steady immigration of new minds, a risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying and failing, a noncorrupt bureaucracy, and financial markets and a venture capital system that are unrivaled at taking new ideas and turning them into global products.” ThinkingTryingMindIdeasAmericaCultureFailingRiskProductsInnovationIndependentFinancialExtremesImmigrationFactorsEnginesSteadyNew IdeasMultitudesVentureBureaucracyEmphasisFreedom Of ThoughtStigmaRisk-takingFinancial MarketsVenture CapitalIndependent ThinkingTrying And Failing Author:Thomas Friedman
“When widely followed public figures feel free to say anything, without any fact-checking, it becomes impossible for a democracy to think intelligently about big issues.” ThinkingFeelsFactsBigsDemocracyIssuesImpossibleFiguresSay AnythingPublic Figures Author:Thomas Friedman
“We're going in the wrong direction and I think the only way to counter that is to bring the story home in really concrete ways to people - in ways that kids can understand and non-scientists can understand.” PeopleThinkingWayStoriesHomeKidsScientistClimate ChangeConcreteWrong Direction Author:Thomas Friedman
