Elizabeth Warren

“When I first started talking about running for office, a lot of people said to me, 'Don't let the consultants change you,' and I'd always assured them that I wouldn't allow it to happen. But like it or not, I had to change. Not because of a consultant, but because I started to understand the cost of a stupid mistake.”

“Every time the U.S. government makes a low-cost loan to someone, it's investing in them.”

“Consumers get used to reading and understanding their credit card contracts, their mortgages, their check overdraft agreements, those are good things. That puts power back in the hands of consumers.”

“What I've learned is that real change is very, very hard. But I've also learned that change is possible - if you fight for it.”

“Mitt Romney is the guy who said corporations are people. No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people.”

“There are very few people at the decision-making table to argue for minimum-wage workers. Very few people.”

“A pension is nothing more than deferred compensation.”

“People with banking experience haven't all flocked to the biggest banks; community banks and regional banks, along with smaller trading houses and credit unions, have some very talented people.”

“The broken consumer credit market had to be repaired by making sure that consumers had the right information and could use it effectively. That meant consolidating the bloated patchwork of ineffective agencies and regulations so that a single agency could act as a voice for consumers.”

“Consumer banking - selling debt to middle class families - has been a gold mine.”

“We shouldn't be profiting from our students who are drowning in debt while giving a great deal to the banks. That's just wrong.”

“Like a lot of you, I grew up in a family on the ragged edges of the middle class. My daddy sold carpeting and ended up as a maintenance man. After he had a heart attack, my mom worked the phones at Sears so we could hang on to our house.”

“I'm not a Washington person.”

“Even families with health insurance are quite vulnerable to a severe economic reversal if someone gets sick.”

“The over-representation of Wall Street banks in senior government positions sends a bad message. It tells people that one - and only one - point of view will dominate economic policymaking.”

“When people feel like, 'Lenders weren't fair with me; I don't have any responsibility to be fair with them.' If we go far enough down that line, much of the fabric of our economy starts to unravel.”

“Republicans say they don't believe in government. Sure they do. They believe in government to help themselves and their powerful friends.”

“Truly successful lives are about family.”

“For many women, the on-time payments of domestic support obligations are essential to economic survival.”

“Part of my job is to make sense of all that I hear, and to retell it in a forceful way so that the decision-makers at Treasury can hear it. At least that's how I see it.”