Ariell Reshef
Favorite Quotes
“The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.” – Joan Robinson
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Benjamin Disraeli
“To suggest social
action for the public good to the city London is like discussing The Origin of
Species to a Bishop sixty years ago.” – John Maynard Keynes
“Once we allow
ourselves to be disobedient to the test of an accountant’s profit, we have
begun to change our civilization.” – John Maynard Keynes
“The idea is
essentially repulsive, of a society held together only by the relations and
feelings arising out of pecuniary interest.” – John Stuart Mill
“To feel much for
others and little for ourselves, to restrain our selfishness and exercise our
benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.” – Adam Smith
“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. Practical men, who believe themselves
to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of
some defunct economist. . . . I am sure
the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual
encroachment of ideas. . . . Soon or
late it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.”
– John Maynard Keynes
“When the facts
change, I change my mind – what do you do, sir?” – John Maynard Keynes
“It is difficult to
get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding
it.” – Upton Sinclair
“All political
thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee
the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly
obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.” – George Orwell
“Men occasionally
stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if
nothing happened.” – Winston Churchill
“We must first note
that economic factors are taken into account in a world in which ignorance,
prejudice, and mental confusion, encouraged rather than dispelled by the
political organization, exert a strong influence on policy making.” – Ronald Coase
“Economics, over
the years, has become more and more abstract and divorced from events in the
real world. Economists, by and large, do not study the workings of the actual economic system. They theorize
about it. As Ely Devons, an English economist, once said in a meeting: ‘If economists wanted to
study the horse, they wouldn’t go around and look at horses. They’d sit in
their studies and say to themselves, `What would I do
if I were a horse?’ ’ ” [italics mine] – Ronald Coase
“Results? Why, man, I have gotten a lot of
results. I know several thousand things that won't work.” –
Thomas Alva Edison
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” – Albert Einstein
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.” – Voltaire
“The first
derivative is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” – Charles Kindleberger
“The discipline of
colleges and universities is in general contrived, not for the benefit of the
students, but for the interest, or more properly speaking, for the ease of the
masters. Its object is, in all cases, to maintain the authority of the master,
and whether he neglects or performs his duty, to oblige the students in all
cases to behave toward him as if he performed it with the greatest diligence
and ability.” – Adam Smith
“Economics is
extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.” – John Galbraith
“It is not the consciousness of men that
determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that
determines their consciousness.” – Karl Marx
“He
who controls the present, controls the past. He who
controls the past, controls the future.” – George Orwell
“All history is
contemporary history.” – Benedetto Croce
“History repeats itself, first as
tragedy, second as farce.” – Karl Marx
“People sleep
peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do
violence on their behalf.” – George Orwell
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
“It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself
by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he
ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Logic can convince
but only emotion can motivate.” – Jonathan Alter
“Your manuscript is
both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part
that is original is not good.” – Attributed
to Samuel Johnson
“If you give ‘em enough ketchup, they’ll even eat concrete.” – Howard
Goldberg
“If the Jews had the technology to make prosciutto, pork would have been Kosher.” – Federico Ciliberto
“Olive oil does not make you fat.” – Hosny Zoabi
“After bread,
education is the second need of the people.” – Danton
“Dans le cochon, tout est bon.” – French proverb
“All animals are
equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – in Animal Farm, by George Orwell
“Four wheels good – two wheels better.” – Anonymous