Quote

I was trained to become an economist and I finished my work and I was teaching and did my PhD so I thought I did that. I prepared myself for that kind of road. But then I realized that I had not learned enough to solve the problem of poverty. So I distanced myself from the things that I learned and tried to learn anew about people.

Muhammad Yunus

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Muhammad Yunus
Age: 84
Born: 1940
Born: June 28
Banker
Economist
Entrepreneur
University Teacher
Chattagram
Work
Poverty
Economist
Kind
Teaching
Trained
Things
Learned
Realized
People
Learn
Solve
Thought
Finished
Become
Road
Problem
Prepared
Distanced
Enough
Tried
Anew

More quotes by Muhammad Yunus

Image
Some people think that poor people are lazy. Actually, it takes a lot of work to survive when you are dirt-poor.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
I had no idea that I would ever get involved with something like lending money to poor people, given the circumstances in which I was working in Bangladesh.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
Truly affordable but high-quality health care tools and services are the only means by which quality health care can be provided to all.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
We believe that poverty does not belong in a civilized human society. It belongs in museums [...] A poverty-free world might not be perfect, but it would be the best approximation of the ideal.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
Making money is a happiness. And that's a great incentive. Making other people happy is a super-happiness.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
Unprecedented technological capabilities combined with unlimited human creativity have given us tremendous power to take on intractable problems like poverty, unemployment, disease, and environmental degradation. Our challenge is to translate this extraordinary potential into meaningful change.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
We have done some of these in Bangladesh. Whenever I see a problem, I immediately go and create a company. That's what I did all my life.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
Grameen Bank was formed as an institution owned by its borrower members, who are poor women. Through its unique decision-making process, Grameen Bank has given millions of women the means to emerge from the shadows in a male-dominated society and to make something of themselves.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
One day our grandchildren will go to museums to see what poverty was like.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
So i say, change the base! If you change the base, anybody will be as tall as anybody else! My belief is poverty is not caused by poor ppl. Poverty is caused by the system. Poverty is caused by the policies that we pursue.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
I avoid grandiose plans. I start with a small piece that I can do. I go to the root of the problem and then work around it. It's building brick by brick.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
I should never seek a job in my life, my mission in life is to create jobs. I am not a job seeker, I am a job giver.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
Soon we saw that money going to women brought much more benefit to the family than money going to the men. So we changed our policy and gave a high priority to women. As a result, now 96% of our four million borrowers in Grameen Bank are women.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
If I could be useful to another human being, even for a day, that would be a great thing. It would be greater than all the big thoughts I could have at the university.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
The challenge I set before anyone who condemns private-sector business is this: If you are a socially conscious person, why don't you run your business in a way that will help achieve social objectives?
Muhammad Yunus
Image
Human beings are much bigger than just making money.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
What is entrepreneurship, after all? Bigness is not the issue. Poor people are the ones who take challenges every day. The guy who sells a hot dog on the street is as much an entrepreneur as anyone else. Getting his $50 loan to start could be as difficult as finding $50 million for someone else. All people are entrepreneurs.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
I think, social business is the most logical thing to do. If we had done that, we could reduce all the problems we have.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
Microcredit has shown how you can reach out to people that conventional banking cannot. It has demonstrated that it's a doable proposition.
Muhammad Yunus
Image
I went to the bank and proposed that they lend money to the poor people. The bankers almost fell over.
Muhammad Yunus