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I went to the bank and proposed that they lend money to the poor people. The bankers almost fell over.

My father was a Presbyterian minister, working among the poor in West Virginia. He had taken what amounted to a vow of poverty when he accepted that call and so we never had much money.

So when I made some money, I didn't have any idea how one handled such a situation because no one in our family ever had any money.

It's more important to try to do something for the crores of poor people of my country.

They explained to me that the bank cannot lend money to poor people because these people are not creditworthy.

I lived through a golden period where society felt that it was good to help people who didn't have a great deal of money fulfil their potential.

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

I'd worked at the World Bank briefly as an undergrad and studied poverty levels around the world - particularly those earning less than $1.25 a day.

I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.

I was doing economic development for minorities. I was getting black folks to use their dollars to help each other.