Mohamed El-Erian quotes:

After many decades of Disney movies, we have been conditioned to expect princesses to fall in love quickly with their charming princes and 'live happily ever after.'

America's downgrade may serve as a wakeup call for its policymakers. It is an unambiguous and loud signal of the country's eroding economic strength and global standing. It renders urgent the need to regain the initiative through better economic policymaking and more coherent governance.

Investors have few spare tires left. Think of the image of a car on a bumpy road to an uncertain destination that has already used up its spare tire. The cash reserves of people have been eaten up by the recent market volatility.

If the Scottish people decide to opt for independence, it would not be a good idea for Scotland to maintain a very rigid link to the pound.

The world is on a bumpy journey to a new destination and the New Normal.

For the next three years, we're going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default.

Investors should be cautiously positioned as the global economy and markets face major uncertainties. The downgrade will be a further headwind to growth and job creation in the U.S.

Because in the New Normal you are more worried about the return of your capital, not return on your capital.

[When] the market is trying to get to terms with, first, lower global growth, particularly out of emerging markets and China. And, second, the market is worried the central banks have run out of ammunition. So put these two things together, and then investors are repricing the market lower.

Investors should invest on what they know. The biggest mistake is to invest on what they don't know.

The world changes! So we're in a situation today where the only policymakers that have flexibility are central banks. But they don't have the instruments! So they've had to experiment, and the more you experiment, the more uncertainty and the higher the risk of collateral damage.

Investors have to ask themselves two questions. How much can we grow our investments? And, can we afford our mistakes?

The global realignment is accelerating the migration of growth and wealth dynamics from the industrial world to the larger emerging economies.

It is hard to imagine that, having downgraded the US, S & P will not follow suit on at least one of the other members of the dwindling club of sovereign AAAs. If this were to materialise and involve a country like France, for example, it could complicate the already fragile efforts by Europe to rescue countries in its periphery.

The once-unthinkable loss of the AAA rating will constitute a further hit to already fragile business and consumer confidence.

There seems to be no limit to the exciting possibilities that come from combining technical innovations, the Internet, and social media.

As we spend more, and as companies are pushed to invest, they say, "Hey wait a minute! There's more demand in the system. Let's invest more."

How long can interest rates stay negative? Think about this. Not only are you lending your money to governments, but you're paying them interest for the privilege of doing so.

If you happen to be the only one with negative interest rates, you also weaken your currency, which means you make your exports more competitive.

The theory is that if you take interest rates negative, people are going to say, "That's a silly game! I'm not going to lend my money to governments who want me to pay them. I am going to go into the stock market where I can get positive returns!"

Today's reports confirm that, unfortunately, post-crisis America is still not back to its good economic self.

We normally think if you're going to lend someone money, you should get some reward for doing this. In Europe, it's a tax!

Once you start moving [market] lower, then you trigger of all sorts of things. You trigger people who have to sell because they're over-levered. So they sell their winners and their losers. They're just trying to raise cash. So, what you then get is spreading malaise throughout the global markets.

As a whole, investors should welcome attempts to safeguard the integrity of markets. You need very clear rules applied to markets.

Simply put, investors should own less equities, more bonds, more global investments, more cash and more dry ammunition.

I remember when I was growing up, you would go to a bank to open a deposit, and they'd give you a toaster. A free toaster. These days, if you're a company, and you go to a bank, they could easily turn you away! They don't want your deposits anymore.

Most people are under exposed to global assets, including foreign stocks, bonds and currencies.

The one instrument that has relative political autonomy is monetary policy. Central banks do not need to go to Congress to get approval for an interest rate hike.