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It takes a certain brashness to attack the accepted economic legendsbut noneat all toperpetuatethem. So theyare perpetuated.

John Kenneth Galbraith

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John Kenneth Galbraith
Age: 97 †
Born: 1908
Born: October 15
Died: 2006
Died: April 29
Diplomat
Economist
Non-Fiction Writer
Politician
University Teacher
John K. Galbraith
Perpetuated
Attack
Accepted
Takes
Economic
Certain

More quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith

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All writers know that on some golden mornings they are touched by the wand they are on intimate terms with poetry and cosmic truth. I have experienced these moments myself. Their lesson is simple: It's a total illusion. And the danger in the illusion is that you will wait for those moments.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Almost every aspect of its (Federal Reserve) history should be approached with a discriminating disregard for what is commonly taught or believed.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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The happiest time of anyone's life is just after the first divorce.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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There's a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a billion dollars.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Nothing is more portable than rich people and their money
John Kenneth Galbraith
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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
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Ralph [ Nader] is an old friend of mine, and he does a useful job in displaying a position.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Few economic problems, if any, are difficult of solution. The difficulty, all but invariably, is in confronting them. We know what needs to be done for reasons of inertia, pecuniary interest, passion or ignorance, we do not wish to say so.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Very important functions can be performed very wastefully and often are.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Meetings are a great trap. Soon you find yourself trying to get agreement and then the people who disagree come to think they have a right to be persuaded. However, they are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Ideas do not respect national frontiers, and this is especially so where language and other traditions are in common.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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A good rule of conversation is never answer a foolish question.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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The family which takes it mauve and cerise, air conditioned, power-steered, and power braked automobile out for a tour passes through cities that are badly paved, made hideous by litter, blighted buildings, billboards, and posts for wires that should long since have been put underground.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Only in very recent times has the average man been a source of savings.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Oligopoly is an imperfect monopoly. Like the despotism of the Dual Monarchy, it is saved only by its incompetence.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Economic theory is the most prestigious subject of instruction and study. Agricultural economics, labor economics and marketing are lower caste fields of study.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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I react to what is necessary. I would like to eschew any formula.
John Kenneth Galbraith