Evan Davis Quotes

Powerful Evan Davis for Daily Growth

About Evan Davis

Evan Davis, born on July 17, 1963, is a renowned British journalist, broadcaster, and economist. His career spans across various media platforms, including television, radio, and print. Born in Manchester, England, Davis attended the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stockport before studying Economics at Downing College, Cambridge. His academic background in economics significantly influenced his journalistic pursuits, with a focus on business and economic issues. Davis began his career as a reporter for the BBC's Newsnight programme in 1993. He later moved to the current affairs series Panorama and served as Business Editor for the BBC from 2004 to 2006. In 2005, he was appointed as one of the main presenters of the BBC Two's flagship business programme, 'The Money Programme.' In 2008, Davis took over as the host of the popular Radio 4 current affairs programme 'Today.' His insightful interviews and thought-provoking discussions earned him critical acclaim. He also hosted the BBC Two's 'Newsnight' from 2013 to 2016, providing comprehensive coverage of significant political events. As a prolific author, Davis has published several books on economics and politics. His works include "The Age of Apathy: How the Internet Has Hijacked Our Souls," "Mind Over Matter: How Brain Science Changes Everything," and "Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back." Davis's journalistic career is marked by his ability to engage audiences with complex economic issues, making them accessible and relevant. His work continues to shape public discourse on economics and politics in the UK.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Innovation isn't just about having a great idea; it's also about execution."

This quote emphasizes that innovation encompasses more than just coming up with an original or groundbreaking idea. It underscores the importance of successfully executing those ideas, transforming them from concepts into tangible realities that create value. Execution is crucial because it's the pathway for ideas to become impactful solutions. The quote serves as a reminder that while creativity and imagination are essential in innovation, they must be complemented with effective planning, implementation, and follow-through for success.


"The key to success in innovation is to fail often so you can fail faster and move on to the next thing."

This quote by Evan Davis emphasizes the importance of embracing failure as a vital part of the innovation process. By frequently experiencing and learning from failures, one can accelerate their pace of progress and quickly transition to new ideas or solutions. In other words, the more often and quickly one learns from failures, the faster they innovate. It encourages an agile, iterative approach to problem-solving, where each failure brings valuable insights for future successes.


"Technology doesn't replace people. It changes what people do."

The quote emphasizes that technology doesn't eliminate human roles but rather alters them. In simpler terms, it suggests that as technology advances, the tasks people perform may change, but humans themselves remain essential contributors in society and the workforce. This means that while technology might automate certain jobs or processes, it also creates new opportunities for human creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills to shine. In essence, technology is a tool that enables us to focus on higher-order tasks, fostering growth and development in various fields.


"Innovation isn't always about coming up with something entirely new; it's often about combining existing ideas in new ways."

This quote by Evan Davis emphasizes that innovation doesn't necessarily require creating something completely novel, but rather finding creative ways to combine or reinterpret existing knowledge, ideas, or technologies to produce something fresh and useful. Essentially, it encourages us to think outside the box and explore unconventional paths towards progress.


"The future belongs to those who can imagine it, and then make it real."

This quote emphasizes the importance of both creativity (imagining the future) and action (making it real) for success in life or any endeavor. It suggests that those who possess the ability to envision a desirable future state and translate that vision into concrete actions are more likely to shape the course of events, as they will be proactive rather than reactive to their circumstances. In essence, the quote underscores the power of foresight and determination in shaping one's destiny.


I don't particularly like going on about being gay or making a big thing about it, but I think it's a bit of a pain to be secretive about it.

- Evan Davis

Think, Big, Making, Secretive

A chair's function is not just to provide a place to sit; it is to provide a medium for self-expression. Chairs are about status, for example. Or signalling something about oneself. That's why the words chair, seat and bench have found themselves used to describe high status professions, from academia to Parliament to the law.

- Evan Davis

Why, About, Professions, Oneself

Art can help a town by attracting a certain Bohemian population that adds life to the bars, character to the streets and a buzz to the name. Employers may then follow. But art can't do much if every town does it. There aren't enough Bohemians.

- Evan Davis

Life, Character, Streets, Bohemian

There is a strong link between the following three things: exporting, manufacturing and the degree of saving by the population. It's complicated, but if the population doesn't save, the economy will not tend to export as much, and if it doesn't export as much, it won't manufacture enough.

- Evan Davis

Strong, Will, Link, Exporting

One of the key problems is that the Germans know what they do because everywhere they go there's a 'made in Germany' label on it - they can feel proud of Volkswagens and Audis and Mercedes.

- Evan Davis

Proud, Made, Germany, Label

We Brits print banknotes out in Debden in Essex, and have contracted it out to the private sector. Here in the U.S. it is a government operation right in the heart of Washington next door to the Holocaust Museum.

- Evan Davis

Door, Next, Here, Contracted

Although being economics editor sounds impressive, it does not mean I actually edit anything. It mainly reflects two decades of title-inflation at the BBC, which has given ever more status to senior reporters, presumably because it is cheaper to do that than to offer higher pay.

- Evan Davis

Two, Cheaper, Reporters, Presumably

Some people harbour an awkward clash of feelings - homosexual attraction on the one hand and shame or embarrassment about that attraction on the other. It is well known that the mind struggles to sustain conflicting views.

- Evan Davis

Shame, Some, Harbour, Attraction

For me, the main principle for broadcasters has to be that if people stand to benefit from an interview, they should be prepared to face some downside as well.

- Evan Davis

Some, Principle, Downside, Broadcasters

Personally, I don't see old economics and behavioural economics as opposed. It is useful to assume people are rational as a good approximation to their long term behaviour, but it would be unwise not to think how in practice their behaviour may deviate from that simplifying assumption.

- Evan Davis

Good, Practice, Long, Unwise

It's not a bad idea to occasionally spend a little time thinking about things you take for granted. Plain everyday things.

- Evan Davis

Bad, Idea, About, Little Time

We escaped the last big bursting of a bubble - the dotcom bubble - with a relatively light U.S. recession. On that occasion, the world economy found its way back on track fairly quickly.

- Evan Davis

Big, Occasion, Last, Bursting

The fact that radio is so hopeless at delivering data makes it an uncluttered medium, offering the basic story without the detailed trappings. But it does mean that if data is important, radio is probably not your place.

- Evan Davis

Data, Fact, Delivering, Trappings

Put simply, behavioural economics argues that human beings' decision-taking is guided by the evolutionary baggage which we bring with us to the present day. Evolution has made us rational to a point, but not perfectly so. It has given us emotions, for example, which programme us to override our rational brain and act more instinctively.

- Evan Davis

Bring, Baggage, Perfectly, Guided

The new industries are brainy industries and so-called knowledge workers tend to like to be near other people who are the same. Think of the City of Hollywood. People cluster. This means you have winning regions, such as London and Cambridge, and losing regions. The people who want to be top lawyers in Sunderland are hoovered up by London.

- Evan Davis

Hollywood, Other, Cluster, Hollywood People

When a population saves a lot, the funds are invested outside the country as well as inside. If the Japanese invest in the United States, it pushes their exchange rate down and makes their manufacturing more competitive.

- Evan Davis

Country, United, Invest, Exchange Rate

But beginners to the World Economics Forum have to understand there is no single Davos experience, and there is no single Davos community either. There are numerous tribes who interact only at a minimal level.

- Evan Davis

Understand, Level, Numerous, Forum

For years, we've grown dependant on American consumers as the world's spenders of last resort. They've kept Europe out of recession, allowed China to industrialise, and prevented global deflation. But at the same time, they've not been looking after their own futures.

- Evan Davis

Own, Been, Allowed, Deflation

Black Friday is not another bad hair day in Wall Street. It's the term used by American retailers to describe the day after the Thanksgiving Holiday, seen as the semi-official start of Christmas shopping season.

- Evan Davis

Black, Bad, Another, Friday

We are more likely to cheat if we see others doing so. We tend to conform to accepted norms of reasonable behaviour, rather than adhere to strict rules.

- Evan Davis

Doing, Rather, Likely, Adhere

Now undoubtedly, we face some very British challenges when it comes to infrastructure. We rightly cherish our back yards and green spaces, and we'll defend them passionately when projects are announced. We live in a democracy, and we like to debate these things, often for many years.

- Evan Davis

Some, Very, Projects, Spaces

Now I can broadcast to an audience of several million people on the 'Today' programme. I can talk about the day's news. But on radio, believe it or not, we have notes and scripts. And while we might ad lib the odd wryly amusing asides, they come at the frequency of a suburban bus. About one every 90 minutes.

- Evan Davis

Bus, Broadcast, 90 Minutes, Scripts

All socio-political phenomena in the U.K. come laden with the baggage of a class-based theory or two attached to them. In the case of gay Tories, there is one particularly silly variant of the category, which asserts that gayness is bred in public schools and thus fits with Conservatism like hand in glove.

- Evan Davis

Glove, Baggage, Bred, Category

In principle, there are only three main components of spending that much matter to monetary policy: consumer spending, business investment and exports and trade.

- Evan Davis

Principle, Components, Consumer

Most people hugely underestimate the amount of 'empty space' we have in our country. Fly over the U.K., and you see that human settlement does not fill up the U.K. at all. It accounts for something of the order of 15 per cent of the landmass.

- Evan Davis

Country, Cent, Our, Accounts

Crossrail is a prime example of infrastructure. It is a rather deadly word, but I think it is exciting stuff, the civil engineering which makes Britain tick - the bridges, tunnels, power and water networks, which bind us together.

- Evan Davis

I Think, Rather, Britain, Bind

Once we are fed, heated, housed and healthy, our extra consumption inevitably has an element of luxury about it. And once luxury enters the scene, the practicalities are in trouble, as women who wear expensive stiletto heels can testify.

- Evan Davis

Heels, About, Fed, Testify

I swing both ways. I can see things from a kind of conservative point of view and from a more socially liberal or left-wing point of view.

- Evan Davis

Conservative, Left-Wing, Both Ways

I've always been scared of advertising folk. I've met them at parties and I've been to their offices and I've always found them intimidatingly cool. At one company I visited, they held their meetings in a caravan that had somehow been installed in the place, a rather more exotic place to gather than the typical BBC glass box.

- Evan Davis

Been, Rather, Held, Exotic

I rarely come away from presenting the 'Today' programme without some sense of regret. There is always some question that I should have asked, or some point that I should have made. This is annoying but not surprising. Perfection is hard to achieve in a three-hour live programme.

- Evan Davis

Regret, Some, Away, Perfection

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