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" Very often, people will come out and say, 'Greeks aren't doing things, Greeks aren't making changes, there's no reform,' That is hogwash. We have made a huge effort. The Greek people have made a huge effort. "

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" Greece has given Europe the opportunity to fix a defect in the euro zone, that is the fact that we did not have a fiscal union. Now steps have been taken to begin that process. And there is more solidarity from nation to nation, and that is a good thing. That has been Greece's gift to Europe. "

George Papandreou

Good

Nation

Opportunity

" If Greece had gone through a very normal political life, I may have not been in politics. But just the fact that I lived through huge upheavals and very difficult struggles and polarization and the barbarism of dictatorships - that made me feel that we had to change this country. "

" I never thought about becoming a politician. But during the military dictatorship, my grandfather was put in prison six times and my father twice. If my family and my country didn't have this history, I might be a professor somewhere today. "

" I have been supporting the European Union, but we are still a work in progress. We have to become more of a United States of Europe. We should talk about electing a president of the E.U., rather than having one selected from the heads of government. "

" I have always said I will be in politics to serve as best as I can and it will take me wherever it will take me. "

George Papandreou

Politics

Said

" I think there is a heritage which I'm proud of, which is a fight for democracy, a fight for social justice, a fight for freedom. My grandfather went to jail or exile six times in his life, fighting for his principles for democracy, or for his country. And my father twice. "

" Europe is a strong market for the U.S. If it has problems, if there's a lack of consumer confidence, if there's a deeper recession, this will deeply affect jobs in the U.S. "

" We Greeks want change. We know there are problems in our system. We have great potential but we need to manage our country well. Now that hasn't been done over the last decades. And that is, of course, what we are paying for. "

" The Greek people do not want to exit the euro. And I believe the Greek people already have shown that they have made major sacrifices to stay in the euro zone. "

" We are a country with great potential. We have the political will to make deep changes in a just and equitable way, to put our country back on a development path, to meet the challenges of a new world. "

" Greece's history in the drachma was an up-and-down history, a roller coaster. "

" In ancient Greece, politics and the market were not decoupled. "

" But sovereign debt is a wider question not only in Europe but across the globe. While every country is a unique case, I think it's not an issue of countries acting on their own. We need a more coordinated strategy not only in Europe but around the world. "

" There are certain moments in the history of a nation when the choices made define the decades to come. "

" Already people are saying we do need a change. "

" This idea that you're a successful tough guy if you evade taxes and deceive the state has got to change. "

" If we were the problem, it would be very convenient - kick Greece out, everything's fine. What would happen to Spain, what about Portugal, what about Italy, what about the whole of the euro zone? We need more cooperation and less simplification and prejudice. "

" Unfortunately, corruption is widespread in government agencies and public enterprises. Our political system promotes nepotism and wasting money. This has undermined our legal system and confidence in the functioning of the state. One of the consequences is that many citizens don't pay their taxes. "

" Markets themselves are looking for stability, and I think we have underestimated the capacity of Europe... to actually create a more stable framework for the whole issue of debt management, bonds, and so on. "

" I never thought of politics as a profession. "

" We have a rise of extremism because we need to give a sense that we are targeting some of the deeper problems in Greece, the injustices. "

" The Marshall Plan was after destruction, and the U.S. came to our help and obviously this was very, very important for the future of Europe. I think now we have all the capabilities of doing it on our own and, in a sense, we have to. "

" Greece has great strengths, but much of this potential has been wasted. That's because of a wider political system, but also because of a lack of an institutional framework. "

" If we were going to default, we would have decided that many months ago. It would be wrong for the Greek economy, it would be wrong for the European economy, it would make things worse in the end. That's why we're taking the pain and making these structural reforms, and we're on target. "

" Everyone needs to carry out his own personal revolution. "

" We had about 60 regions in Greece and now there are only 13. It'd be like cutting down 50 states to 13 and making it more efficient. "

" When I was growing up in the United States and Sweden, I never thought about becoming a politician. "

" Every leader wants to put his or her imprint on the work that they do, and grow up in specific eras. "

George Papandreou

Work

Grow

" I will always be upfront with the Greek people, so we can solve the country's problems together. "

" If you put all the European countries together, we are the biggest economy in the world. "