The ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously.
John Forbes Nash, Jr.Read
It is easy to say that there are the rich and the poor, and so something should be done. But in history, there are always the rich and the poor. If the poor were not as poor, we would still call them the poor. I mean, whoever has less can be called the poor. You will always have the 10% that have less and the 10% that have the most.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the persistent nature of economic disparity throughout history.
John Forbes Nash, Jr. emphasizes that the existence of wealth and poverty is a constant in human history. No matter how society evolves or changes, there will always be a segment of the population that is less affluent. This observation invites deeper reflection on the social structures that maintain economic inequality and challenges the notion of completely eliminating poverty.
Themes
PovertyWealthInequalityHistoryEconomics
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about socio-economic classes during a seminar.
More from John Forbes Nash, Jr.
All quotes βI don't think exactly like a professional economist. I think about economics and economic ideas, but somewhat like an outsider.
John Forbes Nash, Jr.Read
People are always selling the idea that people with mental illness are suffering. I think madness can be an escape. If things are not so good, you maybe want to imagine something better.
John Forbes Nash, Jr.Read
I think mental illness or madness can be an escape also. People don't develop a mental illness because they are in the happiest of situations, usually. One doctor observed that it was rare when people were rich to become schizophrenic. If they were poor or didn't have too much money, then it was more likely.
John Forbes Nash, Jr.Read
It's almost as if a demon might have passed from one host to another.
John Forbes Nash, Jr.Read
Similar quotes
Although sometimes the morbid is also the transcendent, the transcendent cannot be reduced to the morbid.
Siri HustvedtRead
Women's director! Well, I'm very pleased to be considered a master of anything, but remember, for every Jill there was a Jack. People like to pigeonhole you - it's a shortcut, I guess, but once they do, you're stuck with it.
George CukorRead
Fixity is always momentary. But how can it always be so? If it were, it would not be momentary - or would not be fixity.
Octavio PazRead
The moon and sun are travelers through eternity. Even the years wander on. Whether drifting through life on a boat or climbing toward old age leading a horse, each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
Matsuo BashoRead
Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class -- whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy.
Frank HerbertRead
A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.
Alan WattsRead