19 Quotes by John Galbraith

Few things are more tempting to a writer than to repeat, admiringly, what he has said before

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.

The total alteration in underlying circumstances has not been squarely faced, As a result, we are guided, in part, by ideas that are relevant to another world. ... We do many things that are unnecessary, some that are unwise, and a few that are insane.

The traveler to the United States will do well to prepare himself for the class-consciousness of the natives. This differs from the already familiar English version in being more extreme and based more firmly on the conviction that the class to which the speaker belongs is inherently superior to all others.

these are the days when men... seek the comfortable and the accepted; when the man of controversy is looked upon as a disturbing influence; when originality is taken to be a mark of instability; and when, in minor modification of the scriptural parable, the bland lead the bland.

Production only fills a void that it has itself created

An important antidote to American democracy is American gerontocracy. The positions of eminence and authority in Congress are allotted in accordance with length of service, regardless of quality. Superficial observers have long criticized the United States for making a fetish of youth. This is unfair. Uniquely among modern organs of public and private administration, its national legislature rewards senility.

The happiest time in any man's life is just after the first divorce

Among all the world's races ... Americans are the most prone to misinformation. This is not a consequence of any special preference for mendacity.... It is rather that so much of what they themselves believe is wrong.