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"34 John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes & Sayings

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Born: 15 October 1908. Died: 29 April 2006 | Economist | Diplomat | Public official |

Power is not something that can be assumed or discarded at will like underwear.

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

Times Politics Right side Lose
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Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

Nothing Admirable Politics Memory
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The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled

Process Money Simple Mind
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In the world of minor lunacy, the behavior of both the utterly rational and the totally insane seems equally odd.

World Lunacy Behavior Rational
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All crisis have involved debt that, in one fashion or another, has become dangerously out of scale in relation to the underlying means of payment.

Crisis Debt Fashion Payment
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Wisdom, itself, is often an abstraction associated not with fact or reality but with the man who asserts it and the manner of its assertion.

Wisdom Fact Reality Manner
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One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know

Greatest Economic Wisdom Know
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The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.

Conventional View Painful Thinking
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Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.

Meetings Indispensable Want
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Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable

Politics Art Choosing Disastrous
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A bad book is the worse that it cannot repent. It has not been the devil's policy to keep the masses of mankind in ignorance; but finding that they will read, he is doing all in his power to poison their books

Bad book Repent Ignorance Power
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The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.

Function Economic Respectable
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If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.

Wrinkles Written Heart Spirit
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Humor is richly rewarding to the person who employs it. It has some value in gaining and holding attention, but it has no persuasive value at all

Humor Person Value Attention
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All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.

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

Foolish Government Goals State
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Galbraith's First Law: Modesty is a vastly overrated virtue.

Law Modesty Virtue
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In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability.

Economics Hope Faith Desire
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Economists are generally negligent of their heroes.

Economist Negligent Heroes
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Decision has greater virtue and force if taken after there has been eloquent dissent

Decision Virtue Force Eloquent
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The capacity for erroneous belief is very great, especially where it coincides with convenience.
Capacity Belief Great Convenience
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There is something wonderful in seeing a wrong-headed majority assailed by truth

Wonderful Majority Assailed Truth
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Man, at least when educated, is a pessimist. He believes it safer not to reflect on his achievements

Man Educated Pessimist Believes
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Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding
Wealth Enemy Understanding
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War remains the decisive human failure.

War Decisive Human failure
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Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.

Money Mistress Important
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Under capitalism, man exploits man; while under socialism just the reverse is true.

Capitalism Exploits Socialism True
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There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty. That precisely is what makes its pursuit so interesting.

Standard Beauty Pursuit Interesting
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We are becoming the servants in thought, as in action of the machine we have created to serve us.

Servants Thought Action Serve
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One of my greatest pleasures in writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the saddening realization that such people rarely read

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

Wealth Advantages Case Persuasive
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Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.

Economics Useful Form Employment
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Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence

Wealth Cases Convey Intelligence
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John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes & Sayings