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John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes - Page 9

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Those who had been riding the upward wave decide now is the time to get out. Those who thought the increase would be forever find their illusion destroyed abruptly, and they, also, respond to the newly revealed reality

Those who had been riding the upward wave decide now is the time to get out. Those who thought the increase would be forever find their illusion destroyed abruptly, and they, also, respond to the newly revealed reality by selling or trying to sell. And thus the rule, supported by the experience of centuries: the speculative episode always ends not with a whimper but with a bang.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Reality, Forever, Trying
John Kenneth Galbraith (1994). “A Short History of Financial Euphoria”, p.11, Penguin

Things that come from the private sector are in abundant supply; things that depend on the public sector are widely a problem. We're a world, as I said in The Affluent Society, of filthy streets and clean houses, poor schools and expensive television.

John Kenneth Galbraith
School, House, Television
Source: www.progressive.org

When you see reference to a new paradigm you should always, under all circumstances, take cover.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Should, Circumstances, Paradigm
"Galbraith on Crashes, Japan and Walking Sticks" by Ben Laurance and William Keegan, The Observer, June 21, 1998.

Liberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Thinking, People, Political

If you get a reputation for being honest, you have 95 percent of the competition already beat.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Competition, Reputation, Honest

Then came the second Amsterdam discovery, although the principle was known elsewhere. Bank deposits...did not need to be left idly in the bank. They could be lent. The bank then got interest. The borrower then had a deposit that he could spend. But the original deposit still stood to the credit of the original depositor. That too could be spent. Money, spendable money, had been created. Let no one rub his or her eyes. It's still being done-every day. The creation of money by a bank is as simple as this, so simple, I've often said, that the mind is slightly repelled.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Eye, Simple, Discovery

No nice philosophical point has ever been so decisively resolved as this: that those who are not conceived do not miss the pleasure of consuming the goods they do not get born to enjoy.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Nice, Philosophical, Missing
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.117, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

While it will be desirable to achieve planned results, it will be even more important to avoid unplanned disasters.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Important, Achieve, Disaster
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.210, Princeton University Press

Men are, in fact, either sustained by organization or they sustain organization.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Men, Organization, Facts
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.121, Princeton University Press

In public administration good sense would seem to require that public expectation be kept at the lowest possible level in order to minimize eventual disappointment.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Disappointment, Order, Expectations
"A life in our times: memoirs".

Why is anything intrinsically so valueless so obviously desirable?

John Kenneth Galbraith
Desirable, Valueless
John Kenneth Galbraith (2017). “Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went”, p.72, Princeton University Press

The ideas by which people . . . interpret their existence and in measure guide their behavior, were not forged in a world of wealth.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Ideas, People, World
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.13, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I feel very angry when I think of brilliant, or even interesting, women whose minds are wasted on a home. Better have an affair. It isn't permanent and you keep your job.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Jobs, Home, Thinking

There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Political, Politics, Sides
1968 In the Observer, 11 Feb.

A nuclear war does not defend a country and it does not defend a system. I've put it the same way many times; not even the most accomplished ideologue will be able to tell the difference between the ashes of capitalism and the ashes of communism.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Country, War, Differences
"The Ashes of Capitalism and the Ashes of Communism". "Quest for Peace: an Introduction". Book edited by John M. Whiteley, 1986.

For the sake of The Progressive, I will say that [Robert] La Follette was relevant, but he was the last.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Sake, Lasts, Progressive
Source: progressive.org

Ideas do not respect national frontiers, and this is especially so where language and other traditions are in common.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Ideas, Common, Language
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.41, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

One man's consumption becomes his neighbor's wish.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Men, Wish, Neighbor
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.126, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Very important functions can be performed very wastefully and often are.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Important, Function
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.178, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Originality is something that is easily exaggerated, especially by authors contemplating their own work.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Originality, Contemplating, Exaggerated
John Kenneth Galbraith (1998). “The Affluent Society”, p.16, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In the assumption that power belongs as a matter of course to capital, all economists are Marxians.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Matter, Assumption, Economist
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.60, Princeton University Press

What was needed was a policy that increased the supply of money available for use and then ensured its use. Then the state of trade would have to improve.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Use, States, Policy
John Kenneth Galbraith (2017). “Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went”, p.251, Princeton University Press

THE GENIUS of the industrial system lies in its organized use of capital and technology. This is made possible, as we have duly seen, by extensively replacing the market with planning.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Lying, Technology, Genius
John Kenneth Galbraith (2015). “The New Industrial State”, p.432, Princeton University Press

Economics is not an exact science.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Economics, Exact Sciences
"The Age of Uncertainty". Book by John Kenneth Galbraith. Chapter 1, p. 36, 1977.

There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Political, Politics, Accomplished

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