"The history of the last century shows, as we shall see later, that the advice given to governments by bankers, like the advice they gave to industrialists, was consistently good for bankers, but was often disastrous for governments, businessmen, and the people generally"
About this Quote
The subtext isn’t merely that bankers are greedy; it’s that governments and industry repeatedly outsource judgment to a class whose success metrics are private, not civic. Quigley is pointing to a structural asymmetry: when financial advice succeeds, bankers profit; when it fails, the losses can be socialized across states, firms, and citizens. That’s a critique of expertise as power - not the crude claim that bankers secretly rule, but the sharper implication that policy and enterprise can become downstream of credit conditions, debt terms, and the priorities of those who set them.
Context matters: Quigley, a mid-century historian of elite institutions, is writing in the long shadow of war finance, central banking ascendance, and the post-1929 reordering of economic governance. “As we shall see later” is a professor’s throat-clear, but it also signals confidence: he’s not offering a hot take, he’s promising receipts. The intent is to reframe “sound finance” as an interest-bearing ideology - persuasive precisely because it masquerades as neutral competence.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
|---|---|
| Source | Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, Carroll Quigley, 1966 — passage on bankers' advice appears in Quigley's discussion of finance and international banking in this book. |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Quigley, Carroll. (2026, January 17). The history of the last century shows, as we shall see later, that the advice given to governments by bankers, like the advice they gave to industrialists, was consistently good for bankers, but was often disastrous for governments, businessmen, and the people generally. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-history-of-the-last-century-shows-as-we-shall-40567/
Chicago Style
Quigley, Carroll. "The history of the last century shows, as we shall see later, that the advice given to governments by bankers, like the advice they gave to industrialists, was consistently good for bankers, but was often disastrous for governments, businessmen, and the people generally." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-history-of-the-last-century-shows-as-we-shall-40567/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The history of the last century shows, as we shall see later, that the advice given to governments by bankers, like the advice they gave to industrialists, was consistently good for bankers, but was often disastrous for governments, businessmen, and the people generally." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-history-of-the-last-century-shows-as-we-shall-40567/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
