The study of economics does not seem to require any specialised gifts of an unusually high order. John Maynard Keynes More Quotes by John Maynard Keynes More Quotes From John Maynard Keynes As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method in investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes. It is a mistake to think that one limits one's risk by spreading too much between enterprises about which one knows little and has no reason for special confidence. . . . One's knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence. John Maynard Keynes mistake believe thinking If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid. John Maynard Keynes humble would-be people There is no intrinsic reason for the scarcity of capital. John Maynard Keynes capitalism scarcity reason The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward. John Maynard Keynes humor business funny The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future. John Maynard Keynes future money business Too large a proportion of recent "mathematical" economics are mere concoctions, as imprecise as the initial assumptions they rest on, which allow the author to lose sight of the complexities and interdependencies of the real world in a maze of pretentious and unhelpful symbols. John Maynard Keynes investing real sight The spectacle of modern investment markets has sometimes moved me towards the conclusion that to make the purchase of an investment permanent and indissoluble, like marriage, except by reason of death or other grave cause, might be a useful remedy for our contemporary evils. For this would force the investor to direct his mind to the long-term prospects and to those only. John Maynard Keynes evil mind long So it is not an accident that the Nazi lads vent a particular fury against (Einstein). He does truly stand for what they most dislike, the opposite of the blond beast intellectualist, individualist, supernationalist, pacifist, inky, plump... How should they know the glory of the free-ranging intellect and soft objective sympathy to whom money and violence, drink and blood and pomp, mean absolutely nothing? John Maynard Keynes opposites mean blood It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil. John Maynard Keynes dangerous evil ideas When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. John Maynard Keynes wealth moral wise The power to become habituated to his surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind. John Maynard Keynes surroundings characteristics mankind When I find new information I change my mind; What do you do? John Maynard Keynes new-information information mind There is nothing so disastrous as a rational investment policy in an irrational world. John Maynard Keynes investment investing world Canada is a place of infinite promise. We like the people, and if one ever had to emigrate, this would be the destination, not the U.S.A. The hills, lakes and forests make it a place of peace and repose of the mind, such as one never finds in the U.S.A. John Maynard Keynes lakes people promise Businessmen have a different set of delusions from politicians; and need, therefore, different handling. They are, however, much milder than politicians, at the same time allured and terrified by the glare of publicity....You could do anything you like with them, if you would treat them (even the big ones) not as wolves and tigers, but as domestic animals by nature, even though they have been badly brought up and not trained as you would wish. John Maynard Keynes different wish animal But whilst there may be intrinsic reasons for the scarcity of land, there are no intrinsic reasons for the scarcity of capital. John Maynard Keynes scarcity land may Well, when I get new information, I rethink my position. What, sir, do you do with new information? John Maynard Keynes wells atheism information Economists must leave to Adam Smith alone the glory of the Quarto, must pluck the day, fling pamphlets into the wind, write always sub specie temporis , and achieve immortality by accident, if at all. John Maynard Keynes glory writing wind Pyramid-building, earthquakes, even wars may serve to increase wealth, if the education of our statesmen on the principles of the classical economics stands in the way of anything better. John Maynard Keynes pyramids earthquakes war Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits-a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities. John Maynard Keynes taken animal average
