Economic growth and environmental protection are not at odds. They're opposite sides of the same coin if you're looking at longer-term prosperity.

In just about every area of society, there's nothing more important than ethics.

When you have a big, ugly problem, there's never going to be a neat, elegant solution that is totally painless or without a cost.

I'm a straightforward person. I like to be direct with people.

In my experience, the most effective professionals in business and government have the ability to get things done. They're trained to work with multiple stakeholders, to understand how to identify a problem, devise solutions, to compromise and work well with others.

If you've got a bazooka, and people know you've got it, you may not have to take it out.

I've long believed the environmental issue is an economic issue and a political issue. The three are entwined. You can't build prosperity on any basis other than a long-term basis, and you can't do that if you don't have a healthy environment.

Regulation needs to catch up with innovation.

A state-based regulatory system is quite burdensome. It allows price controls to create market distortions. It can hinder development of national products and can directly impact the competitiveness of U.S. insurers.

What began as a subprime lending problem has spread to other, less risky mortgages and contributed to excess home inventories that have pushed down home prices for responsible homeowners.

For market discipline to constrain risk effectively, financial institutions must be allowed to fail. Under optimal financial regulatory and financial system infrastructures, such a failure would not threaten the overall system.

U.S. exports to China have more than quintupled since China entered the WTO and have grown more quickly than imports. In fact, China is America's fastest-growing export market.

One of the things I enjoy the most is fishing.

Buying a home today is a complex process, but that in no way excuses home buyers from their obligation for due diligence.

My dad was somewhat of a naturalist and used to teach us about different birds and trees. So did a fifth grade teacher who made a lasting impact on me; to this day, I remember his lessons about counting the needles on pine trees, seeing if they are twisted or straight, and about checking the tips of oak leaves to see if they are pointed or lobed.

India is a vibrant nation whose strength lies in its commitment to equal rights and to speech, religious and economic freedoms that enrich the lives of all citizens. India is not only the world's largest democracy; it is also a secular, pluralistic society committed to inclusive growth.

We've had crooks from the beginning of time... it's always very interesting and troubling why good people do bad things.

In the past, if a homeowner with a mortgage had a problem making the payment, often he'd get together with a lender and strike a deal, because foreclosures are very expensive to the lender and obviously not good for the homeowner and the community.

I grew up on a farm - I know the smell of horse manure. It does smell better than pig manure.

There is a very real danger that financial regulation will become a wolf in sheep's clothing.

I believe that the root cause of every financial crisis, the root cause, is flawed government policies.

Foreclosure is to no one's benefit. I've heard estimates that mortgage investors lose 40 to 50 percent on their investment if it goes into foreclosure.

No bank should be too big or too complex to fail, but almost any bank is too big to liquidate quickly, particularly in the midst of a crisis.

I didn't get the charm gene.

Complexity and interconnectedness matter as much as size in assessing risk in banking.

As I talk with the Chinese on currency, I encourage them to move much more quickly with opening up their capital markets to competition, because I don't believe the world is going to give them as much time as they would like.

I can't help but think what would have happened if a divisive character such as Trump were president during the 2008 financial crisis, at a time when leadership, compromise, and careful analysis were critical.

I grew up on a working farm. It was small, a hundred acres, but we had cows and pigs and chickens and sheep and a vegetable garden. I spent hours pulling weeds, hoeing, feeding the horses, cleaning out the stalls. My dad was a tough taskmaster. I always worked, but we also had fun.

Indian-Americans are physicians, engineers, CEOs, professors, teachers, entrepreneurs. They are a vital part of the United States' economic and social fabric. Because of this long history, the bonds among our people and our cultures will remain strong.

I never once considered that it was appropriate to put taxpayer money on the line in resolving Lehman Brothers.

In pursuing economic growth, India and the United States share similar values and similar challenges. We understand that the global economy is here to stay. To keep growing and leading the world in innovation and opportunity, the United States and India must trade freely, openly, and according to the principles of the global marketplace.

The idea of being Treasury secretary in the abstract appealed to me, but my initial inclination was that it wasn't right for me to take that step.

Let's not forget, what TARP did allowed us to move overnight and put capital into hundreds of banks, and that money came back plus $32 billion.

China needs a currency that reflects underlying economic fundamentals.

When it comes to the presidency, I will not vote for Donald Trump.

It's hard to punish and save the banks at the same time.

I hate good press, and I abhor bad press.

All of us would like to have our children and their grandchildren grow up with at least the level of prosperity that we had. In the U.S., we seem to be very selfish because the older generation is not making the sacrifices.

Too often, we restrict trade that would create U.S. jobs and is in our national interest.

What I've said repeatedly is, 'I think the auto industry is a very important industry.'

A study by Treasury economists estimated that a country with a tax rate one percentage point lower than another country's attracts 3 percent more capital. It's not surprising then, that average OECD corporate tax rates have trended steadily downward.

If the financial system collapses, it's really, really hard to put it back together again.

I'd have liked to have been another Faulkner, of course.

As a steward of the U.S.economy and financial systems, the Treasury has helped lay the groundwork for the American economy to become a model of strength, flexibility, dynamism, resiliency. This is a system that generates growth, creates jobs and wealth, rewards initiative, and fosters innovation.

I've been through periods of stress, turbulence in the market for over the course of my career, various times, and never in any of those other periods have we had the advantage of a strong economy underpinning the markets.

China saves too much, produces too much, sells too much to Americans and consumes too little.

I happen to think that global slowdown, the slowdown in investment, strengthening dollar probably provide more of a headwind than we get from the decline in oil prices.

I see nothing easy in Washington. I see either analytically simple things that are politically complex or those that are politically complex and analytically complex. I mean, look at immigration reform, you know? It is, I think, analytically easy, but politically very, very complex and very difficult.

China and the U.S. are the two largest importers of oil. They are the two largest emitters of carbon.

When you look at territorial disputes, there are good arguments on any sides. I think it's important that we don't take sides on legitimacy.