Foresight is an imperfect thing - all prevision in economics is imperfect. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith All writers know that on some golden mornings they are touched by the wand; they are on intimate terms with poetry and cosmic truth. I have experienced these moments myself. Their lesson is simple: It's a total illusion. And the danger in the illusion is that you will wait for those moments. John Kenneth Galbraith simple waiting morning Much of the world's work, it has been said, is done by men who do not feel quite well. Marx is a case in point. John Kenneth Galbraith done men world 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 Poverty" Pitt exclaimed "is no disgrace but it is damned annoying." In the contemporary United States it is not annoying but it is a disgrace. John Kenneth Galbraith poverty annoying united-states The Senate has unlimited debate; in the House, debate is ruthlessly circumscribed. There is frequent discussion as to which technique most effectively frustrates democratic process. John Kenneth Galbraith debate technique house 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. John Kenneth Galbraith economy humor attention 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 philosophical nice missing When everything else failed, we can still become immortal by making an enormous blunder. John Kenneth Galbraith enormous suicide death But now, as throughout history, financial capacity and political perspicacity are inversely correlated. John Kenneth Galbraith financial political capacity A more important antidote to American democracy is American gerontocracy. The positions of eminence and authority in Congress are allotted in accordance with length of service, regardless of quality. John Kenneth Galbraith quality democracy important If we are concerned about our great appetite for materials, it is plausible to decrease waste, to make better use of stocks available, and to develop substitutes. But what about the appetite itself? The major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialised countries John Kenneth Galbraith deterioration use country The great dialectic in our time is not, as anciently and by some still supposed, between capital and labor; it is between economic enterprise and the state. John Kenneth Galbraith economic economy states This is a world inhabited not by people who have to be persuaded to believe but by people who want an excuse to believe. John Kenneth Galbraith believe people world A [New Yorker ] is what it has always been. It combines those who pursue the truth with those who pursue the rewards of orthodoxy and those who pursue what is comfortable to the rich. John Kenneth Galbraith orthodoxy rewards rich It is possible that people need to believe they are unmanaged if they are to be managed effectively. John Kenneth Galbraith believe people needs Were it part of our everyday education and comment that the corporation is an instrument for the exercise of power, that it belongs to the process by which we are governed, there would then be debate on how that power is used and how it might be made subordinate to the public will and need. This debate is avoided by propagating the myth that the power does not exist. John Kenneth Galbraith everyday doe exercise No ethic is as ethical as the work ethic. John Kenneth Galbraith ethics work-ethic work It was Herbert Spencer, not Charles Darwin, who coined the phrase Survival of the Fittest. John Kenneth Galbraith survival-of-the-fittest phrases survival I've been writing a book called The Economics of Innocent Fraud. I published part of it already in The Progressive ("Free Market Fraud," January 1999). But I've been interrupted these last few months. It deals with all of the things we do, in an innocent way, to cover up the truth. John Kenneth Galbraith writing book way Third party politics, at least since La Follette, has always had an element of romance. John Kenneth Galbraith romance elements party
