Sylvia Mathews Burwell Quotations

Job training empowers people to realize their dreams and improve their lives.

While natural disasters capture headlines and national attention short-term, the work of recovery and rebuilding is long-term.

Savings is an important tool because it can help the poor deal with the ups and downs of irregular earnings and help them build reserves for a rainy day.

Big meetings and big talk are not enough in a world that is hungry for change. Big action - world leaders keeping their promises, and developing countries committing resources while listening ardently to the voice of the small farmer - is needed to bring big results and prosperity to the world's poor.

No innovation in the past 200 years has done more to save lives and improve health than the sanitation revolution triggered by invention of the toilet. But it did not go far enough. It only reached one-third of the world.

Putting People First was progressivism revived and at its best.

Day after day, ordinary people become heroes through extraordinary and selfless actions to help their neighbors.

There are so many local nonprofits making a positive impact every day, and yet, oftentimes we don't hear enough about them or their needs.

Technologies, including cell phones, have the potential to help millions of poor people out of poverty by enabling access to a range of safe, affordable financial services - most importantly, savings accounts - that have long been out of reach.

Walmart is committed to fighting hunger in America every day.

Across the globe, regardless of nationality or financial status, there is a common dream every mother has for her children - for them to live full, healthy and productive lives. As a mother, I share that dream for my children.

Medical attention and emotional support can be difficult to obtain for those in need, yet both are essential to nurturing healthy futures year round and especially during the holiday season.

To get the most from agricultural resources, poor farmers' needs must come first, guiding investment strategies and forming the yardstick for gauging results.

Where the federal government and the taxpayer has had funds misused, we need to use the full extent of the law to get those funds back for the taxpayer.

When nonprofits, companies and consumers work together, we believe we can make long term, positive change for the millions of people in America who struggle with hunger.

Banks can't recoup the costs of serving customers who save in small amounts and transact frequently.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, where agriculture represents two-thirds of all employment, governments are proving that resource commitments yield success. In 2004, African heads of state pledged 10 percent of their national budgets to achieve 6 percent annual growth in agriculture. By 2008, 20 African countries had met or exceeded that 6 percent target.

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to those who serve or have served in our countrys military, as well as to the families of those individuals. Whether protecting our freedoms in foreign fields or making contributions here at home, the value these men and women bring to the American workforce and our way of life is beyond measure.

At Walmart, we recognize the need to support the development of our nation's youth.

In Mexico, a network of government-operated rural convenience stores is offering banking services to rural communities.

Health care costs are an issue both for the government and for our larger economy.

I kind of have never thought about a career path, which is an unusual approach.

Walmart's Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative is working to create opportunity and empower women and girls in markets around the world.

Certainly it is much easier to think about negotiating and having deals when there is a singular represented point of view. That pretty much is a given.

One in six people in the U.S. at some point each year don't know where their next meal will come from.

My mother at the age of 65 decided she was going to run for mayor. She had never run for public office, and she decided she wanted to try and do some things for the community.

Empowering small farmers to increase productivity, improve crop quality and access reliable markets is critical to addressing global hunger and poverty.

Somewhere in Rwanda, a rural farmer is dreaming of providing an education for her children. Not just high school, but maybe even a university degree. Such a dream used to seem out of reach.

In an age when stagecraft, gauzy themes, and sound-bites have too often been substituted for leadership, Bill Clinton as a candidate made it essential to campaigning to take the specifics of governance seriously. Practical solutions were 'in;' ideology was 'out.'

In one month, the Small Business Administration does $1 billion of loans and guarantees for businesses; many of those are women-owned businesses.

Legislation is about three fundamental things - affordability, access, and quality. That's what the American people want.

So we want to make it easier to shop and understand products because many people aren't educated about what's offered - do you know your premiums? Do you know your copays? Do you know your deductibles? And so figuring out ways that we help people understand what this is, how it works, and that they can shop to get what they need.

My mom didn't run for mayor until she was 65 years old - it was like a second and third career.... The way I've always thought about it is that I don't believe you run for office because you want a job. I believe if you run for office, it's because you have a vision for change. And if I ever came to that point, that's what would lead [me to run]. And right now I'm happily in a position where I believe I can work to deliver impact and work for change.

I had to sign the paper to shut down the government. It's terrible.... [But] what the shutdown showed many, many people is the importance of the role of government. And as frustrated [as people get with] Washington, there are so many things [the government does] that are so important to people's lives every day. The panda cam, paying small businesses their loans - these are all things that shut down.

I have been fortunate to work in places where people have a passion for their work. At HHS the passion sort of exceeds passion - it's a vocation.... I obviously knew that there were certainly some challenges that I would be taking on both with the work and the politics. [But] I probably did not have the right expectation level with regard to the number and volume of crises that would occur.

Certainly there was the Affordable Care Act part, then unaccompanied children [there has been a surge of children entering the country illegally and without parents, particularly in Texas], and things like, we find smallpox in an NIH lab, after 50 years? Why didn't you find it, like, five weeks ago or three years ago? There was thing after thing. But the big ones were [dealing with] the Ebola [outbreak], the unaccompanied children. [It was] perhaps a bigger challenge than I had calculated on my yellow pad as I was thinking about this role.

First of all, women inherently, I think, are quite capable of having lots of balls in the air. And so, like, it's all those skills you use; you analyze the problem, figure out your tools, and then go at it piece by piece.... It's like what you have to do in the morning to get your kids out the door [if you're a parent]. The skills are, I believe, the same. The patience issues are the same.

Can we have a conversation about the substance? That's what I welcome. We're happy to have those conversations if there are places where people think there can be improvements. We want competition in the system, so let's talk about that.

While we've made progress with our numbers, this will be a harder-to-reach group, and we have less money to do it.... Many people don't know or understand about the tax credit that they can receive. And so affordability is a barrier. We know that a disproportionate number of those who are still uninsured are young.

We know there are states, like Alaska, where there are not a lot of providers. How do we work on issues like that? How do we work on making sure that the small-business part of this works better?... And if people have [alternate] plans, let's compare them and see. Access, affordability, and quality - that's what this is about. [But] "repeal" is a symbol of something that I don't think is connected to the substance of what's happening. Do you want to take away care from people who have preexisting conditions? [Repeal] takes you backward.

As a global community, we must ensure that legitimate concerns about liability do not hold back the possibility of developing an Ebola vaccine, an essential strategy in our global response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

When you give the American people the tools to make the right choices for themselves, they're going to do that.