Quotable Quotes: John Kenneth Galbraith
by Miki Saxon
Most people recognize the name of John Kenneth Galbraith, the economist; some know he taught at Harvard, was politically active and a prolific author, but few are aware that he was six-foot-seven.
He was also a master of one-liners—the kind that bite.
Regarding the proficiencies of his own profession Galbraith said, “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.”
This is definitely one of my favorites, “The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.”
It leads inexorably to the next, “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.” Of course, these days people just make it up and post it on the Net.
Galbraith said, “Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding.” If true perhaps it explains why the general population of the richest country in the world has so little understanding (or interest) in what goes on in that same world.
He had many comments on politics, but this one best sums up the last several decades across the board, “Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”
As you may guess from this comment Galbraith was a liberal, but these days it applies to both sides, “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
He also had a knack for gentler, more philosophical thoughts, such as this one about everybody’s favorite office pastime, “Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.”
Finally, two shining pearls to add to your personal necklace.
“It is almost as important to know what is not serious as to know what is.”
“If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.”
Image credit: Wiki Commons
