Paul Samuelson

"Integrity is non-negotiable."

"Character is revealed through adversity."

"Gratitude enhances wellbeing."

"Kindness costs nothing but yields immense returns."

"The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable."

"Peace requires both justice and mercy."

"War is economically destructive."

"Security enables prosperity."

"Freedom and responsibility are inseparable."

"Liberty requires eternal vigilance."

"Democracy, despite its flaws, is superior to alternatives."

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."

"Good questions outrank easy answers."

"An economist is someone who sees something working in practice and wonders if it would work in theory."

"The consumer, so it is said, is the king each merchant strives to serve."

"Nothing is more important than understanding the difference between correlation and causation."

"We live during an age of specialization, yet generalists who can synthesize across disciplines are increasingly valuable."

"To understand the present, one must understand history."

"Mathematics is a language, and economists who cannot speak it are at a disadvantage."

"The greatest economic problem is not scarcity, but distribution."

"Progress requires questioning established orthodoxy."

"A model is useful precisely because it is wrong in the right ways."

"Data without theory is merely a collection of facts; theory without data is mere speculation."

"The mind that is too rigid cannot adapt to new realities."

"Economics is about human behavior, not merely numbers."

"Learning to think like an economist means learning to see the invisible tradeoffs in every decision."

"The future belongs to those who understand incentives."

"Intellectual honesty demands admitting when evidence contradicts your position."

"One must never confuse the map with the territory it represents."

"There are no permanent solutions, only permanent interests."