The problem of the modern economy is not a failure of a knowledge of economics; it's a failure of a knowledge of history. John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith More Quotes From John Kenneth Galbraith Agreeable as it is to know where one is proceeding, it is far more important to know where one has arrived. John Kenneth Galbraith proceeding important knows One man's consumption becomes his neighbor's wish. John Kenneth Galbraith neighbor wish men No society ever seems to have succumbed to boredom. Man has developed an obvious capacity for surviving the pompous reiteration of the commonplace. John Kenneth Galbraith boredom capacity men However, it is safe to say that at the peak in 1929 the number of active speculators was less - and probably was much less - than a million. John Kenneth Galbraith active safe numbers THE INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM requires that prices be under effective control. And it seeks the greatest possible influence over what buyers take at the established prices. John Kenneth Galbraith buyers influence Had the Bible been in clear straightforward language, had the ambiguities and contradictions been edited out, and had the language been constantly modernised to accord with contemporary taste it would almost certainly have been, or become, a work of lesser influence. John Kenneth Galbraith atheism language taste Nothing is more portable than rich people and their money John Kenneth Galbraith rich-people rich people Economic life, as always, is a matrix in which result becomes cause and cause becomes result. John Kenneth Galbraith economic results causes Economists are economical, among other things, of ideas; most make those of their graduate days do for a lifetime. John Kenneth Galbraith politics wisdom ideas SOME YEARS, like some poets,and politicians and some lovely women, are singled out for fame far beyond the common lot, and 1929 was clearly such a year. John Kenneth Galbraith lovely common years A nuclear war does not defend a country and it does not defend a system. I've put it the same way many times; not even the most accomplished ideologue will be able to tell the difference between the ashes of capitalism and the ashes of communism. John Kenneth Galbraith differences war country When you see reference to a new paradigm you should always, under all circumstances, take cover. John Kenneth Galbraith paradigm should circumstances Preservationists are the only people in the world who are invariably confirmed in their wisdom after the fact. John Kenneth Galbraith facts people world In Europe and the United States the two decades following the Second World War will for long be remembered as a very good time, the time when capitalism really worked. Everywhere in the industrialized countries production increased. Unemployment was everywhere low. Prices were nearly stable. When production lagged and unemployment rose, governments intervened to take up the slack, as Keynes had urged. John Kenneth Galbraith government war country It is the good fortune of the affluent country that the opportunity cost of economic discussion is low and hence it can afford all kinds. John Kenneth Galbraith cost opportunity country In a world where for pedagogic and other purposes a very large number of economists is required, an arrangement which discourages many of them from John Kenneth Galbraith purpose numbers world There is little that can be said about most economic goods. A toothbrush does little but clean teeth. Aspirin does little but dull pain. Alcohol is important mostly for making people more or less drunk ... There being so little to be said, much is to be invented. John Kenneth Galbraith drunk pain business Any consideration of the life and larger social existence of the modern corporate man begins and also largely ends with the effect of one all-embracing force. That is organization - the highly structured assemblage of men, and now some women, of which he is a part. It is to this, at the expense of family, friends, sex, recreation and sometimes health and effective control of alcoholic intake, that he is expected to devote his energies. John Kenneth Galbraith organization men sex I never enjoyed writing a book more; indeed, it is the only one I remember in no sense as a labor but as a joy. John Kenneth Galbraith writing joy book The sense of responsibility in the financial community for the community as a whole is not small. It is nearly nil. John Kenneth Galbraith financial community responsibility
