I have come to believe, deeply and firmly, that we can create a poverty free world if we want to. I came to this conclusion not as a product of a pious dream, but as a concrete result of experience gained in the work of the Grameen Bank.

The poor themselves can create a poverty-free world. All we have to do is to free them from the chains that we have put around them!

Some people think that poor people are lazy. Actually, it takes a lot of work to survive when you are dirt-poor.

If we want to help poor people out, one way to do that is to help them explore and use their own capability. Human being is full of capacity, full of capability, it's a wonderful creation, but many people never get a chance to explore that, never know that she or he has that.

In the future the question will not be, "Are people credit-worthy", but rather, "Are banks people-worthy?"

Th direct elimination of elimination of poverty should be the objective of all development aid. Development should be viewed as a human rights issue, not as a question of simply increasing the gross national product (GNP).

Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the initiative away from the poor.