I want to eradicate poverty. I think that theres a tremendous passion for that inside the World Bank.

Carbon is the currency of how you measure climate change, but water will be the teeth.

When you're working on development issues, optimism is not always based on rational analysis, often it is a moral choice.

We need to have a plan equal to the challenge.

Ending poverty and ensuring sustainability are the defining challenges of our time. Energy is central to both of them.

One of the most important things about leadership is that you have to have the kind of humility that will allow you to be coached.

Today there are a lot places where people say they're just hopeless. If I can come from a hopeless country, get an education, become a hyphenated American and become president of the World Bank, it's my moral duty to make sure that every single person on the planet has that opportunity.