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John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes

Economist

John Kenneth Galbraith was a renowned economist known for his research on economic cycles, market structures, and government policies. His works have had a profound impact on economic theory and policy practice.

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Famous John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes

“It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.”

Sea Investing Firm Nonsense Anchors

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“In economics, the majority is always wrong.”

Inspirational Economic Economics Majority Investing Economist Always Wrong Independent Thinking Economy And Economics Studying Economics

Book:Ambassador's Journal

Source: Ambassador's Journal

“The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.”

Mind Process Simple Investing Banking Bankers Monetary New World Order Federal Reserve Monetary System Bankers And Banks Banks And Money

Book:Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went

Source: Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went

“The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.”

Ideas Politics Enemy Events Investing March Conventional Conventional Wisdom

Book:The affluent society

Source: The affluent society

“Pundits forecast not because they know, but because they are asked.”

Knows Investing Forecasts Pundits

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“Economics exists to make astrology look respectable.”

Looks Economics Investing Astrology Respectable

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“Genius is a rising stock market.”

Genius Investing Rising

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“A point must be repeated: only the pathological weakness of the financial memory...allows us to believe that the modern experience of....debt...is in any way a new phenomenon.”

Way Believe Memories Modern Weakness Investing Financial Debt Phenomenon

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“Perhaps never before or since have so many people taken the measure of economic prospects and found them so favorable as in the two days following the Thursday [24th October 1929] disaster.”

People Two Found Taken Economic Investing Following Disaster October Two Days Prospects Thursday

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“Those who had been riding the upward wave decide now is the time to get out. Those who thought the increase would be forever find their illusion destroyed abruptly, and they, also, respond to the newly revealed reality by selling or trying to sell. And thus the rule, supported by the experience of centuries: the speculative episode always ends not with a whimper but with a bang.”

Trying Ends Reality Would Be Forever Century Illusion Increase Sells Investing Wave Selling Destroyed Riding Episodes Bangs

Book:A Short History of Financial Euphoria

Source: A Short History of Financial Euphoria

“Almost every aspect of its (Federal Reserve) history should be approached with a discriminating disregard for what is commonly taught or believed.”

Should Taught Aspect Investing Reserves Disregard Federal Reserve

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“The man who is admired for the ingenuity of his larceny is almost always rediscovering some earlier form of fraud. The basic forms are all known, have all been practiced. The manners of capitalism improve. The morals may not.”

Men May Form Known Moral Crime Capitalism Investing Manners Fraud Ingenuity Larceny

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“There are two kinds of forecasters: those who don’t know, and those who don’t know they don’t know.”

Knows Kind Two Investing

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.”

People Risk Materials Advantage Destruction Investing Privilege Surrender Affluence Supply Side Economics

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“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.”

Years War Government Would Be Money Pay Security Notes Investing Following Heavy Debt Ran Retiring Federal Government Surplus

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“It is my guiding confession that I believe the greatest error in economics is in seeing the economy as a stable, immutable structure.”

Believe I Believe Economy Seeing Economics Structure Errors Investing Stable Confession

Book:A Journey Through Economic Time: A Firsthand View

Source: A Journey Through Economic Time: A Firsthand View

“The world of finance hails the invention of the wheel over and over again, often in a slightly more unstable version.”

World Business Investing Invention Versions Finance Wheels Unstable Hail Independent Thinking

Book:A Short History of Financial Euphoria

Source: A Short History of Financial Euphoria

“To see economic policy as a problem of choice between rival ideologies is the greatest error of our time.”

Problem Choices Economic Policy Errors Investing Ideology Our Time Rivals Economic Policy

Book:Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went

Source: Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went

“The privileged have regularly invited their own destruction with their greed.”

Destruction Greed Investing Privileged Invited

Author:John Kenneth Galbraith

“There can be few fields of human endeavor in which history counts for so little as in the world of finance.Past experience, to the extent that it is part of memory at all, is dismissed as the primitive refuge of the those who do not have insight to appreciate the incredible wonders of the present.”

World Humans Littles Past Memories Wonder Fields Appreciate Incredibles Investing Insight Finance Endeavor Primitive Refuge Past Experiences

Book:A Short History of Financial Euphoria

Source: A Short History of Financial Euphoria

About the Author

Born: October 15, 1908
Died: April 29, 2006
Known for: Economist
Quotes: 408

Books & Sources

the new industrial stateRelated source material

The affluent societyRelated source material

THE GREAT CRASH 1929Related source material

Money: Whence It Came, Where It WentRelated source material

The Essential GalbraithRelated source material

A Short History of Financial EuphoriaRelated source material

A life in our times: memoirsRelated source material

The great crash, 1929Related source material

Ambassador's JournalRelated source material

Economics in Perspective: A Critical HistoryRelated source material

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