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John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes - Page 13

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Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover either for grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much-cherished aspect of academic freedom.

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover either for grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much-cherished aspect of academic freedom.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Freedom, People, Criticism
"H.L. Mencken: The Baltimore Oracle" by John Kenneth Galbraith, www.washingtonpost.com. September 14, 1980.

I predict, not because I know, but because I'm asked.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Knows

It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals. But, there is no alternative to the state.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Government, Goal, Custodians

The commencement speech is not, I think, a wholly satisfactory manifestation of our culture.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Thinking, Culture, Speech

The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Ideas, Enemy, Events
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.11, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In the usual (though certainly not in every) public decision on economic policy, the choice is between courses that are almost equally good or equally bad. It is the narrowest decisions that are most ardently debated. If the world is lucky enough to enjoy peace, it may even one day make the discovery, to the horror of doctrinaire free-enterprisers and doctrinaire planners alike, that what is called capitalism and what is called socialism are both capable of working quite well.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Peace, Discovery, Choices
"Years of the Modern". Book by by J.W. Chase, 1949.

There is an old saying, or should be, that it is a wise economist who recognizes the scope of his own generalizations.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Wise, Economics, Scope
John Kenneth Galbraith (2001). “The Essential Galbraith”, p.12, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Metropolis should have been aborted long before it became New York, London or Tokyo.

John Kenneth Galbraith
New York, Should Have, Cities
"The Age of Uncertainty". Book by John Kenneth Galbraith, 1977.

We have escapist fiction, so why not escapist biography?

John Kenneth Galbraith
Biographies, Why Not, Fiction
1980 In the NewYork Times, 27 Jul.

Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Wealth, Prosperity, Finance
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.1, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Over the span of man's history, although a phenomenal amount of education, persuasion, indoctrination and incantation have been devoted to the effort, ordinary people have never been quite persuaded that toil is as agreeable as its alternatives. Thus to take increased well-being partly in the form of more goods and partly in the form of more leisure is unquestionably rational.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Men, People, Effort
John Kenneth Galbraith (1971). “The affluent society”

In a community where public services have failed to keep abreast of private consumption things are very different. Here, in an atmosphere of private opulence and public squalor, the private goods have full sway.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Community, Atmosphere, Opulence
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.191, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Men will look back in amusement at the pretence that once caused people to refer to General Dynamics and North American Aviation and AT&T as private business.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Men, People, Looks

Where humor is concerned there are no standards - no one can say what is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Humorous, Standards, Humour

The charge that an idea is radical, impractical, or long- haired is met by showing that a prominent businessman has favored it?an additional tactic in this strategy of defense?is to assert that Winston Churchill once sponsored the particular idea. If one is challenged, a sufficiently careful investigation will show that he did.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Ideas, Long, Defense
1955 Economics and the Art of Controversy.

But there is merit even in the mentally retarded legislator. He asks the questions that everyone is afraid to ask for fear of seeming simple.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Simple, Merit, Retarded
"The Age of Uncertainty". Book by John Kenneth Galbraith. Chapter 12, p. 328, 1977.

In economics, unlike fiction and the theater, there is no harm in a premature disclosure of the plot: it is to see the changes just mentioned and others as an interlocked whole.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Plot, Fiction, Economics
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.7, Princeton University Press

If a man didn't make sense, the Scotch felt it was misplaced politeness to try to keep him from knowing it. Better that he be aware of his reputation, for this would encourage reticence which goes well with stupidity.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Men, Scotch, Knowing

I have never understood why one's affections must be confined, as once with women, to a single country.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Country, Affection, Understood
John Kenneth Galbraith (1981). “A life in our times: memoirs”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Inventions that are not made, like babies that are not born, are rarely missed. In the absence of new developments, old ones may seem very impressive for quite a long while.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Baby, Science, Long
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.104, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Authorship of any sort is a fantastic indulgence of the ego.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Writing, Ego, Fantastic
John Kenneth Galbraith (1958). “The Affluent Society”, Boston : Houghton Mifflin

In the market economy the price that is offered is counted upon to produce the result that is sought.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Economy, Results, Produce
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.27, Princeton University Press

The fully planned economy, so far from being unpopular, is warmly regarded by those who know it best.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Economics, Economy, Knows
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.38, Princeton University Press

Economists, on the whole, think well of what they do themselves and much less well of what their professional colleagues do.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Thinking, Scholarship, Economist
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.489, Princeton University Press

If we were not in Vietnam, all that part of the world would be enjoying the obscurity it so richly deserves.

John Kenneth Galbraith
World, Would Be, Obscurity

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