Bernard Mannes Baruch amerikai pénzember, tőzsdei spekuláns, államférfi és elnöki tanácsadó. Miután sikereket ért el az üzleti életben, idejét és tapasztalatát a tanácsadásnak szentelte. Woodrow Wilson és Franklin D. Roosevelt is kikérték a véleményét a gazdasági kérdésekben.
Az 1929-33-as gazdasági világválság egyik előidézőjének is tekintik. Baruch, J.D. Rockefeller és J.P. Morgan banki spekulációi, illetve tőzsdei ügyletei idézhették elő az 1929 októberében kitört New York-i tőzsde-krachot.
A második világháborút követően Baruch az atomenergia üzletbe fektette a válság és a háború alatt felhalmozott vagyonát. A következőt címezte az ENSZ Atomenergia Bizottságához :
"Az új atomkor fekete előjele mögött fekszik a remény, amelyet megragad a hit, ami ismeri a megváltást ... Ne áltassuk magunkat: választani kell a világbéke vagy a világ megsemmisítése között...A béke sohasem tartható fenn sokáig a fém tömegével vagy egy fegyverkezési versennyel. A Béke csak akkor lehet nyugodt és biztonságos, ha annak megértését és elfogadását szankciókkal megerősítettük. Meg kell ragadnunk a nemzetközi együttműködést és a nemzetközi szétesést. A tudomány megtanította nekünk, hogy az atom hogyan dolgozik. De az, hogy ez a munka jó, és nem rossz, az abban rejlik, hogy kiterjedten foglalkozunk az emberi méltóság alapelveivel . A probléma tehát inkább etikai, mint fizikai."
Ő használta először a közéletben Orwell híres kifejezését, a "hidegháború"-t.
Bár közismerten orosz ellenes volt, mégis a békében látta az egyetlen lehetőséget:
"Ne tévesszen meg - ma a hidegháború közepén vagyunk. Ellenségeink megtalálhatók külföldön és itthon. Soha ne feledjük a következőt: a nyugtalanságunk a sikerük szíve. A világbéke a reményünk és a politikai rendszerünk célja ; ez kétségbeesés és vereség azoknak, akik ellenünk állnak.
Néhány híres mondása: "Nem vagyok okos. Megpróbálok megfigyelni. Milliók látták az almát leesni, de Newton volt az, aki megkérdezte, hogy miért."
New York Post
"Számomra az öregkor mindig tizenöt évvel idősebb, mint én."
A 85. születésnapján idézi őt a The Observer [London]
Wikipedia
“Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.”
Deming Headlight (New Mexico), 6 January 1950, as cited in the Yale Book of Modern Proverbs and at There Are Opinions, And Then There Are Facts; Freakonomics blog post by Fred R. Shapiro http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/08/18/there-are-opinions-and-then-there-are-facts/ (18 August 2011)
As quoted in his obituary, New York Times (21 June 1965)
“To me, old age is always fifteen years older than I am.”
On his 85th birthday, as quoted in The Observer [London] (21 August 1955)
the path that was entered upon only one hundred and fifty years ago … How young she is! It will be centuries before she will adopt that maturity of custom — the clothing of the grave — that some people believe she is already fitted for.
Address on accepting The Churchman Award, New York (23 May 1944)
Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (14 June 1946)
Kontextus: Peace is never long preserved by weight of metal or by an armament race. Peace can be made tranquil and secure only by understanding and agreement fortified by sanctions. We must embrace international cooperation or international disintegration. Science has taught us how to put the atom to work. But to make it work for good instead of for evil lies in the domain dealing with the principles of human dignity. We are now facing a problem more of ethics than of physics.
Address to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (14 June 1946)
Address on accepting The Churchman Award, New York (23 May 1944)
Kontextus: America has never forgotten — and never will forget — the nobler things that brought her into being and that light her path — the path that was entered upon only one hundred and fifty years ago … How young she is! It will be centuries before she will adopt that maturity of custom — the clothing of the grave — that some people believe she is already fitted for.
“Let us not be deceived — we are today in the midst of a cold war.”
Speech to the South Carolina Legislature, Columbia, SC (16 April 1947); Baruch said that the phrase "cold war" was suggested to him by H. B. Swope, editor of the New York World; the term had earlier been used by George Orwell (1945)
Kontextus: Let us not be deceived — we are today in the midst of a cold war. Our enemies are to be found abroad and at home. Let us never forget this: Our unrest is the heart of their success. The peace of the world is the hope and the goal of our political system; it is the despair and defeat of those who stand against us.
Speech to the South Carolina Legislature, Columbia, SC (16 April 1947); Baruch said that the phrase "cold war" was suggested to him by H. B. Swope, editor of the New York World; the term had earlier been used by George Orwell (1945)
Kontextus: Let us not be deceived — we are today in the midst of a cold war. Our enemies are to be found abroad and at home. Let us never forget this: Our unrest is the heart of their success. The peace of the world is the hope and the goal of our political system; it is the despair and defeat of those who stand against us.
“A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs.”
20,000 Quotes and Quips by Evan Esar (1968) original quote in Baruch, Bernard, The Public Years. NY, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960, p.31.
“I am quite sure that in the hereafter she will take me by the hand and lead me to my proper seat.”
Regarding a childhood teacher, as quoted in News summaries (29 August 1955)
“Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter.”
Often quoted response to Igor Cassini, a popular society columnist for the New York Journal American, when asked how he handled the seating arrangements for all those who attended his dinner parties, as quoted in Shake Well Before Using: A New Collection of Impressions and Anecdotes Mostly Humorous (1948) by Bennett Cerf, p. 249; the full response was "I never bother about that. Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter." This anecdote is also Chiasmus and has also become part of a larger expression, which has been commonly attributed to Dr. Seuss, even in print, but without citation of a specific work : "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
“Vote for the man who promises least; he'll be the least disappointing.”
As quoted in Meyer Berger’s New York (1960)
“Although the shooting war is over, we are in the midst of a cold war which is getting warmer.”
Speech before the Senate’s Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program (1948)