One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith Foreign policy is conducted for the convenience and enjoyment of people in Washington. John Kenneth Galbraith conveniencepoliticspeople It takes some skill to spoil a breakfast - even the English can't do it. John Kenneth Galbraith skillshometravel One must always have in mind one simple fact - there is no literate population in the world that is poor, and there is no illiterate population that is anything but poor. John Kenneth Galbraith populationsimplemind Of all the mysteries of the stock exchange there is none so impenetrable as why there should be a buyer for everyone who seeks to sell. John Kenneth Galbraith buyersmysteryshould There are a significant number of learned men and women who hold that any successful effort to make ideas lively, intelligible and interesting is a manifestation of deficient scholarship. This is the fortress behind which the minimally coherent regularly find refuge. John Kenneth Galbraith successfulmenideas When you see reference to a new paradigm you should always, under all circumstances, take cover. Because ever since the great tulipmania in 1637, speculation has always been covered by a new paradigm. There was never a paradigm so new and so wonderful as the one that covered John Law and the South Sea Bubble - until the day of disaster. John Kenneth Galbraith lawseawonderful Nothing so denies a person liberty as the total absence of money. John Kenneth Galbraith denylibertyabsence Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory. John Kenneth Galbraith freedompoliticalmemories It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people, or houses to the homeless. John Kenneth Galbraith housefoodpeople In the autumn of 1929 the mightiest of Americans were, for a brief time, revealed as human beings. John Kenneth Galbraith autumnhumanstime I've been a faithful reader of the great classical documents of economics, or tried to be. The first book in the field that I ever read was Principles of Economics by Alfred Marshall. I suppose subsequently I would have to pick out Keynes, Adam Smith, Marx. John Kenneth Galbraith faithfulfieldsbook A good rule of conversation is never answer a foolish question. John Kenneth Galbraith foolishanswersconversation Economic stimulation that works through the increased outlays to the affluent has, inevitably, an aspect of soundness and sanity that is lacking in expenditure on behalf of the undeserving poor. John Kenneth Galbraith sanityeconomicpoor A point must be repeated: only the pathological weakness of the financial memory...allows us to believe that the modern experience of....debt...is in any way a new phenomenon. John Kenneth Galbraith weaknessmemoriesbelieve Things that come from the private sector are in abundant supply; things that depend on the public sector are widely a problem. We're a world, as I said in The Affluent Society, of filthy streets and clean houses, poor schools and expensive television. John Kenneth Galbraith housetelevisionschool The line dividing the state from what is called private enterprise, orat least fromthehighlyorganized part of it, is a traditional fiction. John Kenneth Galbraith linesstatesfiction Of late I have searched diligently to discover the advantages of age, and there is, I have concluded, only one. It is that lovely women treat your approaches with understanding rather than with disdain. John Kenneth Galbraith lovelyunderstandingage I react pragmatically. Where the market works, I'm for that. Where the government is necessary, I'm for that. I'm deeply suspicious of somebody who says, 'I'm in favor of privatization,' or, 'I'm deeply in favor of public ownership.' I'm in favor of whatever works in the particular case. John Kenneth Galbraith favorspoliticalgovernment Private enterprise did not get us atomic energy. John Kenneth Galbraith atomic-energyenterpriseenergy 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 simplewaitingmorning
