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John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes - Page 15

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Man, at least when educated, is a pessimist. He believes it safer not to reflect on his achievements; Jove is known to strike such people down.

Man, at least when educated, is a pessimist. He believes it safer not to reflect on his achievements; Jove is known to strike such people down.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Believe, Men, People
"The Age of Uncertainty". Book by John Kenneth Galbraith. Chapter 12, p. 324, 1977.

Perhaps never before or since have so many people taken the measure of economic prospects and found them so favorable as in the two days following the Thursday [24th October 1929] disaster.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Taken, Two, People

It is the good fortune of the affluent country that the opportunity cost of economic discussion is low and hence it can afford all kinds.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Country, Opportunity, Cost
1971 Economics, Peace, and Laughter.

My rule on honorary degrees has always been to have one more than Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Education, Degrees, Arthur

Some things were never meant to be recycled.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Politics, Recycled, Some Things Are Meant To Be

The oldest problem in economic education is how to exclude the incompetent. A certain glib mastery of verbiage-the ability to speak portentously and sententiously about the relation of money supply to the price level-is easy for the unlearned and may even be aided by a mildly enfeebled intellect. The requirement that there be ability to master difficult models, including ones for which mathematical competence is required, is a highly useful screening device.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Mastery, Levels, May

There can be no question, however, that prolonged commitment to mathematical exercises in economics can be damaging. It leads to the atrophy of judgement and intuition. . .

John Kenneth Galbraith
Commitment, Math, Exercise

In the world of minor lunacy the behaviour of both the utterly rational and the totally insane seems equally odd.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Insane, Behaviour, World
"The 100 best nonfiction books: No24 - The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith (1958)" by Robert McCrum, www.theguardian.com. July 11, 2016.

One of the best ways of avoiding necessary and even urgent tasks is to seem to be busily employed on things that are already done.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Work, Tasks, Done
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.15, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

We now in the United States have more security guards for the rich than we have police services for the poor districts. If you're looking for personal security, far better to move to the suburbs than to pay taxes in New York.

John Kenneth Galbraith
New York, Moving, Security Guards
The Guardian, May 23, 1992.

If it is dangerous to suppose that government is always right, it will sooner or later be awkward for public administration if most people suppose that it is always wrong.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Government, People, Awkward

I write with two things in mind. I want to be right with my fellow economists. After all, I've made my life as a professional economist, so I'm careful that my economics is as it should be. But I have long felt that there's no economic proposition that can't be stated in clear, accessible language. So I try to be right with my fellow economists, but I try to have an audience of any interested, intelligent person.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Writing, Intelligent, Two
Interview with Brian Lamb, Booknotes C-SPAN, November 13, 1994.

The spirit should never grow old.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Wrinkles, 50th Birthday, Age

Good writing, and this is especially important in a subject such as economics, must also involve the reader in the matter at hand. It is not enough to explain. The images that are in the mind of the writer must be made to reappear in the mind of the reader, and it is the absence of this ability that causes much economic writing to be condemned, quite properly, as abstract.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Writing, Hands, Mind

It's much easier to point out the problem than it is to say just how it should be solved.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Problem, Easier, Should
John Kenneth Galbraith, Stanislav Mikhaĭlovich Menʹshikov (1989). “Capitalism, communism and coexistence: from the bitter past to a better prospect”, Hamish Hamilton

Economists are economical, among other things, of ideas; most make those of their graduate days do for a lifetime.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Wisdom, Ideas, Politics

THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM requires that prices be under effective control. And it seeks the greatest possible influence over what buyers take at the established prices.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Influence, Buyers
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.273, Princeton University Press

However, it is safe to say that at the peak in 1929 the number of active speculators was less - and probably was much less - than a million.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Numbers, Safe, Active
John Kenneth Galbraith (2009). “The Great Crash 1929”, p.96, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In a world where for pedagogic and other purposes a very large number of economists is required, an arrangement which discourages many of them from

John Kenneth Galbraith
Numbers, Purpose, World
1971 Economics, Peace, and Laughter.

In 1736, Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette printed an apology for its irregular appearence because its printer was "with the Press, labouring for the publick Good, to make Money more plentiful." The press was busy printing money.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Apology, Printing Money, Pennsylvania
"Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went". Book by John Kenneth Galbraith. Chapter V, "Of Paper," p. 54, 1975.

One can relish the varied idiocy of human action during a panic to the full, for, while it is a time of great tragedy, nothing is being lost but money.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Depression, Tragedy, Panic
JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH (1962). “THE GREAT CRASH 1929”

Inflation does not lubricate trade but by rescuing traders from their errors of optimism or stupidity.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Errors, Optimism, Stupidity
John Kenneth Galbraith (2017). “Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went”, p.15, Princeton University Press

It is my guiding confession that I believe the greatest error in economics is in seeing the economy as a stable, immutable structure.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Believe, Errors, Investing
John Kenneth Galbraith (1995). “A Journey Through Economic Time: A Firsthand View”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Seaboard Air Line, which was thought by numerous innocents to provide a foothold in aviation, was another favorite, although, in fact, it was a railroad.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Air, Railroads, Lines
John Kenneth Galbraith (2017). “Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went”, p.123, Princeton University Press

The American colonies, all know, were greatly opposed to taxation without representation. They were also, a less celebrated quality, equally opposed to taxation with representation.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Quality, Taxation Without Representation, Taxes
"The Age of Uncertainty". Book by John Kenneth Galbraith, Chapter 6, p. 180, 1977.

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