John Maynard Keynes

"The world is not improved by those who assume that the present order is the best of all possible worlds."

"Economic life is fundamentally about the allocation of scarce resources among competing uses."

"The advance of civilization is not automatic; it requires the constant vigilance and effort of those who cherish it."

"In the realm of human affairs, unintended consequences are often more important than intended ones."

"The market economy is a remarkable institution, but it is not perfect and cannot be left entirely to its own devices."

"The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones that ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds."

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

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

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

"I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal."

"Education: the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

"Nothing is certain but death, taxes, and the tendency of economists to disagree."

"The fundamental principle of human nature is that a man prefers a thousand pounds next year to a hundred pounds today."

"In the long run, the market is a weighing machine; in the short run, it is a voting machine."

"There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency."

"By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens."

"The social object of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelope our future."

"I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas."

"If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid."

"The right to private property is important because it is the most powerful incentive to action and to the accumulation of wealth."

"Most men love money and security to them, and hate most of all to be in a state of uncertainty."

"Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking."

"The war has revealed the extraordinary financial power of the United States."

"We were not mad, merely specialists on a very narrow line."

"It is better that a man should tyrannise over his bank balance than over his fellow citizens."

"The theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy."

"I believe myself to be one of the few people who really understands the present situation."

"An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return."

"The love of money as a possession will be recognised for what it is, a somewhat disgusting morbidity."

"Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others."