People who are in a fortunate position always attribute virtue to what makes them so happy. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. John Kenneth Galbraith investingriskpeople All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. John Kenneth Galbraith leadershipmotivationalinspirational Few things in life can be so appalling as the difference between a dry antiseptic statement of a principle by a well spoken man in a quiet office, and what happens to people when that principle is put into practice. John Kenneth Galbraith things-in-lifepracticemen It's great to be with William Buckley, because you don't have to think. He takes a position and you automatically take the opposite one and you know you're right. John Kenneth Galbraith positionoppositesthinking All crises have involved debt that, in one fashion or another, has become dangerously out of scale in relation to the underlying means of payment. John Kenneth Galbraith debtfashionmean In economics, the majority is always wrong. John Kenneth Galbraith investingmajorityinspirational Even in such a time of madness as the late twenties, a great many man in Wall Street remained quite sane. But they also remained very quiet. The sense of responsibility in the financial community for the community as a whole is not small. It is nearly nil. Perhaps this is inherent. In a community where the primary concern is making money, one of the necessary rules is to live and let live. To speak out against madness may be to ruin those who have succumbed to it. So the wise in Wall Street are nearly always silent. The foolish thus have the field to themselves. None rebukes them. John Kenneth Galbraith wallresponsibilitywise Money is what fueled the industrial society. But in the informational society, the fuel, the power, is knowledge. One has now come to see a new class structure divided by those who have information and those who must function out of ignorance. This new class has its power not from money, not from land, but from knowledge. John Kenneth Galbraith landignoranceclass The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable. John Kenneth Galbraith technologyrealscience At best, in such depression times, monetary policy is a feeble reed on which to lean. John Kenneth Galbraith monetary-policyreedspolicy Economists are generally negligent of their heroes. John Kenneth Galbraith economisthero In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone. John Kenneth Galbraith majoritypoliticalorganization Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence. John Kenneth Galbraith prosperityfinancewealth All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door. John Kenneth Galbraith inspirationsuccessfuldoors Wisdom... is often an abstraction associated not with fact or reality but with the man who asserts it and the manner of its assertion. John Kenneth Galbraith menlifereality The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself. John Kenneth Galbraith achievementawardsbusiness The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the poor. John Kenneth Galbraith wealthbuildingcharacter Capitalism is chronically unstable.Boom and bust has always marked capitalism in the United States. There were panics in 1785, 1791, 1819, 1857, 1869, 1873, 1907, 1929 and 1987.In economies and politics, as in war, an astonishing number of people die, like the man on the railway crossing, defending their right of way. This is a poorly developed instinct in Switzerland. No country so firmly avows the principles of private enterprise but in few have the practical concessions to socialism been more numerous and varied. John Kenneth Galbraith menwarcountry If you feed enough oats to the horse, some will pass through to feed the sparrows (referring to "trickle down" economics). John Kenneth Galbraith oatssparrowshorse Pundits forecast not because they know, but because they are asked. John Kenneth Galbraith punditsinvestingknows
