If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has. John Maynard Keynes More Quotes by John Maynard Keynes More Quotes From John Maynard Keynes Like all his type, Newton was wholly aloof from women. John Maynard Keynes newtonalooftype I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. John Maynard Keynes encroachmentinterestideas I was suffering from my chronic delusion that one good share is safer than ten bad ones, and I am always forgetting that hardly anyone else shares this particular delusion. John Maynard Keynes sufferingshareforget I see, therefore, the rentier aspect of capitalism as a transitional phase which will disappear when it has done its work. And with the disappearance of its rentier aspect much else in it besides will suffer a sea-change. It will be, moreover, a great advantage of the order of events which I am advocating, that the euthanasia of the rentier, of the functionless investor, will be nothing sudden, merely a gradual but prolonged continuance of what we have seen recently in Great Britain, and will need no revolution. John Maynard Keynes wisdomseaorder He had one illusion - France; and one disillusion - mankind, including Frenchmen. John Maynard Keynes illusioneconomicsfrance I know of only three people who really understand money. A professor at another university. One of my students. And a rather junior clerk at the Bank of England. John Maynard Keynes juniorsclerkspeople It is better that a man should tyrannize over his bank balance than over his fellow-citizens and whilst the former is sometimes denounced as being but a means to the latter, sometimes at least it is an alternative. John Maynard Keynes moneymenmean Those, who are strongly wedded to what I shall call 'the classical theory', will fluctuate, I expect, between a belief that I am quite wrong and a belief that I am saying nothing new. It is for others to determine if either of these or the third alternative is right. John Maynard Keynes learningpowerhistory If we consistently act on the optimistic hypothesis, this hypothesis will tend to be realised; whilst by acting on the pessimistic hypothesis we can keep ourselves for ever in the pit of want. John Maynard Keynes pitsoptimisticacting Nevertheless, if we contemplate a society with a somewhat stable wage-unit, with national characteristics which determine the propensity to consume and the preference for liquidity, and with a monetary system which rigidly links the quantity of money to the stock of the precious metals, it will be essential for the maintenance of prosperity that the authorities should pay close attention to the state of the balance of trade. For a favourable balance, provided it is not too large, will prove extremely stimulating; whilst an unfavourable balance may soon produce a state of persistent depression. John Maynard Keynes balanceessentialsattention The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn't deliver the goods. John Maynard Keynes intelligentbeautifulwar Perhaps it is historically true that no order of society ever perishes save by its own hand. John Maynard Keynes orderhands If I am right in supposing it to be comparatively easy to make capital-goods so abundant that the marginal efficiency of capital is zero, this may be the most sensible way of gradually getting rid of many of the objectionable features of capitalism. John Maynard Keynes zeromaysupposing-that I wish I'd drunk more champagne. John Maynard Keynes bad-assdrunkalcohol Economic privation proceeds by easy stages, and so long as men suffer it patiently the outside world cares little. John Maynard Keynes sufferingmenlong It is preferable to regard labour, including, of course, the personal services of the entrepreneur, and his assistants, as the sole factor of production, operating in a given environment of technique, natural resources, capital equipment and effective demand. This is why we have been able to take labour as the sole physical unit which we require in our economic system, apart from units of money and of time. John Maynard Keynes demandentrepreneurtechnique Economics is a very dangerous science. John Maynard Keynes economicsdangerous Never in history was there a method devised of such efficacy for setting each country's advantage at variance with its neighbours' as the international gold (or, formerly, silver) standard. John Maynard Keynes investinggoldcountry It is better that a man should tyrannize over his bank balance than over his fellow-citizens. John Maynard Keynes balancedemocracymen Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was the last of the magicians. John Maynard Keynes lastsagescience
