Robert Fogel Quotes

#1. Although they arrived in New York penniless, my parents scraped together enough savings to establish the first of several small businesses just after I was born.

Robert Fogel

#2. The rate of technological and human physiological change in the 20th century has been remarkable. Beyond that, a synergy between the improved technology and physiology is more than the simple addition of the two.

Robert Fogel

#3. The president has very little effect on the economy. If you want to put blame or credit, the main person who influences the business cycle is the head of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Robert Fogel

#4. Centuries ago it may have been difficult for pregnant women and their children to get proper nourishment, probably leading to smaller - and therefore shorter-lived - adults.

Robert Fogel

#5. The older I get, the more important my view of the family is.

Robert Fogel

#6. People want more and more leisure time, which means the freedom to do what they want to do, not what they have to do, and as we get richer and richer, more and more people will be able to afford that.

Robert Fogel

#7. The first, and overarching, count in the new indictment is that slavery permitted one group of people to exercise unrestrained personal domination over another group of people.

Robert Fogel

#8. Remember, what does 'retirement' mean? It doesn't mean that you're a couch potato. Leisure is not the same thing as rest. If you're bicycling five miles a day, that's leisure, but it certainly takes a lot of effort.

Robert Fogel

#9. In most, if not quite all, parts of the world, the size, shape and longevity of the human body have changed more substantially, and much more rapidly, during the past three centuries than over many previous millennia.

Robert Fogel

#10. In 1890, nearly everyone died on the job, and if they lived long enough not to die on the job, the average age of retirement was 85.

Robert Fogel

#11. I was born in New York City in 1926, four years after my parents and my brother migrated to the United States from the city of Odessa in Russia.

Robert Fogel

#12. I think the most important thing I have done in my life is to raise two boys.

Robert Fogel

#13. The Quest for Prosperity is an important book. Written with verve and clarity, it reflects a deep understanding of global economic issues, and proposes practical solutions that anyone concerned with the plight of the world's poor would be wise to read.

Robert Fogel

#14. One of the most startling events in my life was when my older son was about 16, and he blamed me for all the troubles of the world. So I, I felt like telling him, 'Oh no, I was just like you when I was your age; I wanted to change the world, too.'

Robert Fogel