40 Quotes By John Kenneth Galbraith


By all but the pathologically romantic, it is now recognized that this is not the age of the small man.
John Kenneth Galbraith on age

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

Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
John Kenneth Galbraith on art

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
John Kenneth Galbraith on art

There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty. That precisely is what makes its pursuit so interesting.
John Kenneth Galbraith on beauty

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
John Kenneth Galbraith on business

War remains the decisive human failure.
John Kenneth Galbraith on failure

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

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith on finance

Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.
John Kenneth Galbraith on finance

Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive.
John Kenneth Galbraith on finance

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.
John Kenneth Galbraith on food

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.
John Kenneth Galbraith on freedom

Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
John Kenneth Galbraith on government

It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals. But, there is no alternative to the state.
John Kenneth Galbraith on government

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 on great

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

Humor is richly rewarding to the person who employs it. It has some value in gaining and holding attention, but it has no persuasive value at all.
John Kenneth Galbraith on humor

We all agree that pessimism is a mark of superior intellect.
John Kenneth Galbraith on intelligence

Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.
John Kenneth Galbraith on intelligence