I predict, not because I know, but because I'm asked. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith War remains the decisive human failure. John Kenneth Galbraith humanswarpeace Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything. John Kenneth Galbraith organizationbusinesschange The attraction of power we take for granted in politics.. But in economics...the thrust...is for pecuniary return, for money. And I have always felt that denies in the economic world a very large part of the motivation. John Kenneth Galbraith returnmotivationworld Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive. John Kenneth Galbraith prosperityfinancewealth Monetary policy suffers from the unfortunate absence of any occult effect. It has long been clear that economic management...would be greatly facilitated if resort could occasionally be had to witchcraft. John Kenneth Galbraith sufferingwould-belong In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong. John Kenneth Galbraith acceptancecomfortlife We shall have a race of men who are strong on telemetry and space communications but who cannot read anything but a blueprint or write anything but a computer program. John Kenneth Galbraith communicationstrongwriting By all but the pathologically romantic, it is now recognized that this is not the age of the small man. John Kenneth Galbraith agebirthdaymen There's a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a billion dollars. John Kenneth Galbraith majoritypoliticallove You will find that [the] State [Department] is the kind of organisation which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly too. John Kenneth Galbraith governmentorganizationkindness We have escapist fiction, so why not escapist biography? John Kenneth Galbraith why-notbiographiesfiction Both we and the Soviets face the common threat of nuclear destruction and there is no likelihood that either capitalism or communism will survive a nuclear war. John Kenneth Galbraith nuclearfaceswar Get the process of negotiation away from the small specialized group that some people have called the "nuclear theologians" ... Only a few people can understand the nature of these weapons ... This kept the whole discussion to a very limited group of people who, in a way, had assumed responsibility for saying whether we should live or die. John Kenneth Galbraith nuclearresponsibilitypeople The Metropolis should have been aborted long before it became New York, London or Tokyo. John Kenneth Galbraith citiesnew-yorkshould-have 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 forevertryingreality The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events. John Kenneth Galbraith eventsenemyideas The commencement speech is not, I think, a wholly satisfactory manifestation of our culture. John Kenneth Galbraith speechculturethinking It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals. But, there is no alternative to the state. John Kenneth Galbraith custodiansgovernmentgoal Over the span of man's history, although a phenomenal amount of education, persuasion, indoctrination and incantation have been devoted to the effort, ordinary people have never been quite persuaded that toil is as agreeable as its alternatives. Thus to take increased well-being partly in the form of more goods and partly in the form of more leisure is unquestionably rational. John Kenneth Galbraith effortmenpeople In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes. John Kenneth Galbraith united-statespowerexpectations
