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But it can be laid down as a rule that those who speak most of liberty are least inclined to use it.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Power is as power does.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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In the autumn of 1929 the mightiest of Americans were, for a brief time, revealed as human beings.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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The greater the wealth the thicker will be the dirt.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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While it will be desirable to achieve planned results, it will be even more important to avoid unplanned disasters.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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When you see reference to a new paradigm you should always, under all circumstances, take cover. Because ever since the great tulipmania in 1637, speculation has always been covered by a new paradigm. There was never a paradigm so new and so wonderful as the one that covered John Law and the South Sea Bubble - until the day of disaster.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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One must always have in mind one simple fact - there is no literate population in the world that is poor, and there is no illiterate population that is anything but poor.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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A nuclear war does not defend a country and it does not defend a system. I've put it the same way many times; not even the most accomplished ideologue will be able to tell the difference between the ashes of capitalism and the ashes of communism.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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We can safely abandon the doctrine of the eighties, namely that the rich were not working because they had too little money, the poor because they had much.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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There is wonder and a certain wicked pleasure in these giddy ascents and terrible falls, especially as they happen to other people.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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A drastic reduction in weapons competition following a general release from the commitment to the Cold War would be sharply in conflict with the needs of the industrial system.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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The pioneering instrument of reform was the Bank of England. Of all institutions concerned with economics none has for so long enjoyed such prestige. It is, in all respects, to money as St. Peter's is to Faith.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Of all the mysteries of the stock exchange there is none so impenetrable as why there should be a buyer for everyone who seeks to sell.
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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A person buying ordinary products in a supermarket is in touch with his deepest emotions.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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There is something wonderful in seeing a wrong-headed majority assailed by truth.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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We do not manufacture wants for goods we do not produce.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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People who are in a fortunate position always attribute virtue to what makes them so happy.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the poor.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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Clearly the most unfortunate people are those who must do the same thing over and over again, every minute, or perhaps twenty to the minute. They deserve the shortest hours and the highest pay.
John Kenneth Galbraith
