If inheritance qualifies one for office, intelligence cannot be a requirement. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith Simple minds, presumably, are the easiest to manage. John Kenneth Galbraith simple-mindssimplemind Under the privilege of the First Amendment many, many ridiculous things are said. John Kenneth Galbraith civil-rightsprivilegefirsts 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 libertyspeakuse 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 incomebusinessmen [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 growthsocietymen 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 yieldpastideas 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 struggledirtyschool 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 achievementtechnologyspace 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 shellswritinglong 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 grandparentprivilegereturn The massive reduction in risk that is inherent in the development of the modern corporation has been far from fully appreciated. John Kenneth Galbraith corporationsriskdevelopment 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 disappointmentexpectationsorder Speeches in our culture are the vacuum that fills a vacuum. John Kenneth Galbraith oratoryvacuumsculture The greater the wealth the thicker will be the dirt. John Kenneth Galbraith dirtpoliticspolitical Ideas may be superior to vested interest. They are also very often the children of vested interest. John Kenneth Galbraith maychildrenideas 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 strongersteellong American university presidents are a nervous breed; I have never thought well of them as a class. John Kenneth Galbraith american-universitiespresidentclass You roll back the stones, and you find slithering things. That is the world of Richard Nixon. John Kenneth Galbraith politicsstonesworld 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 governmentsilencesympathy 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 retardedmeritsimple
