Quotes by John Maynard Keynes

“The war has ended with every one owing every one else immense sums of money. Germany owes a large sum to the Allies, the Allies owe a large sum to Great Britain, and Great Britain owes a large sum ...”

“Our attitude to these criticisms must be determined by our whole moral and emotional reaction to the future of international relations and the Peace of the World.”

“The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.”

“How long will it be necessary to pay City men so entirely out of proportion to what other servants of society commonly receive for performing social services not less useful or difficult?”

“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”

“The businessman is only tolerable so long as his gains can be held to bear some relation to what, roughly and in some sense, his activities have contributed to society.”

“Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent.”

“A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind.”

“When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?”

“Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians, the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind that looked out on the visible and intellectual world...”

“When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall be able to rid ourselves of many of the pseudo-moral principles w...”

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”

“By this means the government may secretly and unobserved, confiscate the wealth of the people, and not one man in a million will detect the theft.”

“Keynes was a voracious reader. He had what he called one of the best of all gifts the eye which can pick up the print effortlessly. If one was to be a good reader, that is to read as easily as one...”

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

“If we consistently act on the optimistic hypothesis, this hypothesis will tend to be realised; whilst by acting on the pessimistic hypothesis we can keep ourselves for ever in the pit of want.”

“The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is ...”

“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work together for the benefit of all.”

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practi...”

“If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has.”