Few things in life can be so appalling as the difference between a dry antiseptic statement of a principle by a well spoken man in a quiet office, and what happens to people when that principle is put into practice. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith Under the privilege of the First Amendment many, many ridiculous things are said. John Kenneth Galbraith civil-rights privilege firsts But it can be laid down as a rule that those who speak most of liberty are least inclined to use it. John Kenneth Galbraith liberty speak use The income men derive from producing things of slight consequence is of great consequence. The production reflects the low marginal utility of the goods to society. The income reflects the high total utility of a livelihood to a person. John Kenneth Galbraith income business men [The] men of the technostructure are the new and universal priesthood. Their religion is business success; their test of virtue is growth and profit. Their bible is the computer printout; their communion bench is the committee room. John Kenneth Galbraith growth society men Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of other ideas but to the massive onslaught of circumstance with which they cannot contend. John Kenneth Galbraith yield past ideas I am not quite sure what the advantage is in having a few more dollars to spend if the air is too dirty to breathe, the water too polluted to drink, the commuters are losing out in the struggle to get in and out of the city, the streets are filthy, and the schools so bad that the young perhaps wisely stay away, and the hoodlums roll citizens for some of the dollars they saved in the tax cut. John Kenneth Galbraith struggle dirty school The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the U.S. is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems. John Kenneth Galbraith achievement technology space Writing is a long and lonesome business; back of the problems in thought and composition hover always the awful questions: Is this the page that shows the empty shell? Is it here and now that they find me out? John Kenneth Galbraith shells writing long No grant of feudal privilege has ever equaled, for effortless return, that of the grandparent who bought and endowed his descendants with a thousand shares of General Motors or General Electric. John Kenneth Galbraith grandparent privilege return The massive reduction in risk that is inherent in the development of the modern corporation has been far from fully appreciated. John Kenneth Galbraith corporations risk development 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 expectations order Speeches in our culture are the vacuum that fills a vacuum. John Kenneth Galbraith oratory vacuums culture The greater the wealth the thicker will be the dirt. John Kenneth Galbraith dirt politics political Ideas may be superior to vested interest. They are also very often the children of vested interest. John Kenneth Galbraith may children ideas I've long believed alas, that in highly organized industrial societies, capitalist or socialist, the stronger tendency is to converge - that if steel or automobiles are wanted and must be made on a large scale, the process will stamp its imprint on the society, whether that me be Magnitogorsk or Gary, Indiana. John Kenneth Galbraith stronger steel long American university presidents are a nervous breed; I have never thought well of them as a class. John Kenneth Galbraith american-universities president class You roll back the stones, and you find slithering things. That is the world of Richard Nixon. John Kenneth Galbraith politics stones world One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence. John Kenneth Galbraith government silence sympathy 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 retarded merit simple Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not. John Kenneth Galbraith mistress money important
