Poverty is not only about income levels, but for lack of freedom that comes from physical insecurity

Poverty is not only about income levels, but for lack of freedom that comes from physical insecurity

People need to believe that they can participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives and have a stake in the societies in which they live

Failure can be an incredibly motivating force.

We have to remember that the girls and the women are most isolated and violated and victimized and made invisible in those very societies where our men and our boys feel disempowered, unable to provide.

Monsters will always exist. There's one inside each of us. But an angel lives there, too. There is no more important agenda than figuring out how to slay one and nurture the other.

On the one hand, I loved being a banker. I loved how numbers could tell a story and how you can invest in ideas and see them translate into products and services and create jobs. What I didn't like, particularly where I was working in Brazil during the debt crisis of the early '80s, was how the poor were excluded from the banking system. I made the decision to try and experiment with whether we could use the tools of banking to extend the benefits of the economy to the poor.