458 Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith

The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the poor.

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.

More investment trusts securities were offered in September of 1929 even than in August - the total was above $600 million. However, the nearly simultaneous promotion of Shenandoah and Blue Ridge was to stand as the pinnacle of new era finance. It is difficult not to marvel at the imagination which was implicit in this gargantuan insanity. If there must be madness something may be said for having it on a heroic scale.

One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.

In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability.

Private enterprise did not get us atomic energy.

We live surrounded by a systematic appeal to a dream world which all mature, scientific reality would reject. We, quite literally, advertise our commitment to immaturity, mendacity and profound gullibility. It is as the hallmark of the culture. And it is justified as being economically indispensable.

In numerous years following the war, the Federal Government ran a heavy surplus. It could not (however) pay off its debt, retire its securities, because to do so meant there would be no bonds to back the national bank notes. To pay off the debt was to destroy the money supply.

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.