John Maynard Keynes

"The difficulty of modern philosophy lies in saying things that are neither commonplaces nor paradoxes."

"It is astonishing what foolish things one can temporarily believe if one thinks too long alone."

"The immense accumulations of fixed capital which are a main characteristic of modern industrialism are of very recent growth."

"Art is the effort of man to express his own consciousness."

"The most stable system historically has been the periodic default of governments on their debts."

"The price is not determined by the cost of production, but by the marginal utility."

"Unemployment is involuntary when there is competition among workers and wages may be reduced to a level at which supply of labor exceeds demand."

"The future is fundamentally uncertain; it cannot be reduced to mathematical probabilities."

"Productive investment depends upon knowledge and confidence about the future."

"Professional investment may be likened to those newspaper competitions in which the competitors have to pick out the six prettiest faces."

"Competition is not so potent today in maintaining competitive prices as it was twenty or thirty years ago."

"The important thing is to avoid being rigid in our views."

"Economic bliss is to be in a position where there is no pressure to economize."

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

"Economic activity is driven by animal instincts rather than rational calculation."

"Saving is the residual of income after consumption; not vice versa."

"A sound banker is not one who foresees danger and avoids it, but one who, when he is ruined, is ruined in a conventional way."

"The love of money as a possession is different from the love of money as a means of enjoyment and achievement."

"We are slaves to our preconceptions and habits of thought."

"Every class in the community has an interest in economic progress; yet the distribution of the gain is a matter of fierce and continuing contention."

"The future belongs to those who can imagine it better than it currently is."

"Induction from experience has to be supplemented by the judgment of reasonable men."

"It is a curious thing that the more we know, the more we understand how little we know."

"The theory of consumer demand is that consumption is influenced by price and income, but actually animal spirits matter more."

"Keynes argued that governments should run deficits during recessions to stimulate demand."

"Markets are mechanisms for aggregating information, but they regularly fail spectacularly."

"Nothing is more important than good judgment; everything else can be learned."

"The ability to imagine alternatives is the prerequisite for human progress."

"Efficiency and justice are often in direct conflict; a price must be paid for moral progress."

"Economic growth requires that we abandon our fear of technological unemployment."