Decoding Lagarde Means Learning Proverbs, Poets, the Magic Flute

In eight years as managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde made close to 200 speeches in dozens of countries. The first woman to run the world’s financial firehouse has urged some central banks to provide monetary stimulus and cautioned others to lean against asset bubbles. She exudes the European ideal of “shared prosperity” but carefully tailors her messages to her audiences.

As European Central Bank watchers try to divine how she might communicate as the next ECB president, one thing to understand is she’s a student of the arts, history, philosophy, literature and even nature. Great minds of the past, according to Lagarde, can guide policy makers in the present. Here’s a sampling: