“Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”
Art
“By all but the pathologically romantic, it is now recognized that this is not the age of the small man.”
AgeAll Quotes by John Kenneth Galbraith
“More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.”
Food“The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.”
Nature“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.”
Freedom“The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.”
Money“In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.”
Power“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.”
Humor“In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability.”
Faith“Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.”
Money“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.”
Politics“One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.”
Wisdom“Power is not something that can be assumed or discarded at will like underwear.”
Power“Liberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative.”
Politics“Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”
Art“Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.”
Finance“Wealth is not without its advantages and the case to the contrary, although it has often been made, has never proved widely persuasive.”
Finance“Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.”
Business“Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.”
Politics“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.”
Great“In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.”
Alone