Elizabeth Warren quotes: on aggressively going after what you want, figuring out who-the-f*ck you are, the mechanics of getting rich, and more.
“If there’s any lesson I’ve learned in the last five years, it’s don’t be so sure about what lies ahead. There are amazing doors that could open.”
“You can’t predict it all. People will tell you to plan things out as best you can. They will tell you to focus. They will tell you to follow your dreams. They will all be right.”
“Never be so faithful to your plan that you are unwilling to consider the unexpected. Never be so faithful to your plan that you are unwilling to entertain the improbable opportunity that comes looking for you.”
“You have to figure out who you are, and who you are isn’t about what job you have or what kind of car you drive. You have to think hard about what really matters to you.”
“You’ve got to figure out what makes your heart flutter and your stomach clench. What makes you wake up ready to go and what makes you wish you didn’t have to move. You are a lot more likely to follow through if you really, deep-down care.”
“If you find the issues that matter to you and you get in the fight, you will build a life with more heart flutters and fewer ‘don’t make me move’ moments. You will build a life that is deeply worthwhile.”
“In the face of high risk, many people become cautious. Others say, ‘It’s all on the line, so give it everything you’ve got.’ I’m hard-wired to be in the latter group.”
“What I’ve learned is that real change is very, very hard. But I’ve also learned that change is possible – if you fight for it.”
“I mean making it a priority to know yourself, to know what defines you, totally separate from what anybody else thinks. But here’s the thing: if you figure that out, nothing will be more valuable. Knowing who you are is the compass that will help guide you to unexpected opportunity or when a setback blows your way. Knowing who you are is the centerboard that will help steady you when you’re afraid you may capsize.”
“Knowing who you are will help you when it’s time to fight. Fight for the job you want, fight for the people who mean the most to you and fight for the kind of world you want to live in. It will help when people say, ‘That’s impossible,’ or, ‘You can’t do that.’ Look, if you take the unexpected opportunities when they come up, if you know yourself, and if you fight for what you believe in, I can promise that you will live a life that is rich with meaning. You’ll be on the road less traveled.”
“It’s so easy to focus on what could go wrong, on what else you could do before you try the thing you really want to do. Now. Just get out there and try.”
“Keep a little space in your heart for the improbable. You won’t regret it.”
“We can’t go out and tell ourselves we’ve done good if we haven’t.”
“We don’t win what we don’t fight for.”
“Start simple. Fix something people can see.”
“I get the reason that you should be willing to negotiate sometimes. But you also ought to be willing to throw a punch.”
“It’s better to fight because if you don’t fight, you can’t win. Besides, even when you don’t win, you can change the game.”
“When you fight back and win, even in small battles, it makes a difference in who you become. You’re better for it. That’s what persistence is about. It’s a ferocious optimism.”
“If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu.”
“It’s a simple idea: we all do better when we work together and invest in our future.”
“How do you think we build a future? I think we build it by investing in our kids and investing in education. A good education is a foundation for a better future.”
“Americans are fighters. We’re tough, resourceful and creative, and if we have the chance to fight on a level playing field, where everyone pays a fair share and everyone has a real shot, then no one – no one can stop us.”
“And that’s how we build the economy of the future. We grow it with opportunity.”
“You are responsible for yourself forever.”
“Getting straight with your money is as complicated as a trip to the grocery store: you need a comparison shop, add and subtract, stick with a plan, and ask questions – nothing more.”
“Balancing your money is the key to having enough. Get your money in balance. One rule of thumb is 50/30/20. Spend about 50% of your money on must-haves – things like rent, car payments – and about 30% on wants, while 20% should go toward savings and paying down debt.”
“Goals work. Pick one debt, and then put every dime into paying down that one debt. Once that debt is paid off, start paying down the next debt. Pretty soon it’s time to move from paying debt to building savings.”
“You know, the old version was about balancing a checkbook. The new version is about the risks of debt, which is so much more widely available. So I think it’s important that we design relevant financial literacy courses, and teach them starting early in grade school.”
“It’s powerfully important that our kids get an education in personal finance.”
“My parents and I were all afraid of being poor – really poor.”
“I’m still very connected to my family, to the world I grew up in. I understand what it means to be afraid that you can’t pay a doctor’s bill. Or to have to make the choice between buying a band uniform for a seventh-grader and making the insurance payment on time. That will never leave me. It was how I lived until I was well into my adult years.”
“My response to fear of being poor was to study contracts, finance, economics, to plan, to have a goal, to work on that goal. To learn everything I could. I always poked at the things that scared me most.”
“I studied why working families were going broke and how big banks were raking in gigantic profits by cheating people. I wrote books and gave speeches and headed up commissions and did everything I could to try to get the law changed to help hardworking people. And I knew that this was the work I wanted to do forever. Now for sure I was set on my path for life.”
“We need an economy where everyone else who works hard gets a shot at doing great!”
“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.”
“We’re Americans. We celebrate success.”
“People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters.”
“Truly successful lives are about family.”
“Being Native American has been part of my story I guess since the day I was born.”
“The word’s out: I’m a woman, and I’m going to have trouble backing off on that. I am what I am. I’ll go out and talk to people about what’s happening to their families, and when I do that, I’m a mother. I’m a grandmother.”
“The core of my career is my teaching and my writing.”
“I love the work I do.”
“I believe in us. I believe in what we can do together, in what we will do together. All we need is a fighting chance.”
“I believe you can make great things happen. For our country, and for yourselves.”
Related: Donald Trump quotes.
