The ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously.
I don't think exactly like a professional economist. I think about economics and economic ideas, but somewhat like an outsider.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nash emphasizes a unique, outsider perspective on economics, rather than strictly adhering to traditional academic views.
In this quote, John Forbes Nash, Jr. expresses his distinctive approach to understanding economics. Rather than conforming to the conventional methods and thoughts of professional economists, he adopts an outsider's viewpoint, suggesting that this perspective allows for innovative ideas and interpretations in the field of economics. This approach reflects his broader belief in the value of independent, critical thinking.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about interdisciplinary approaches to problems, one might use this quote to illustrate the value of diverse perspectives.
More from John Forbes Nash, Jr.
All quotes βIt 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.
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.
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.
It's almost as if a demon might have passed from one host to another.
Similar quotes
Let us admit, without bitterness, that the individual has his distinct interests and can, without felony, stipulate for those interests and defend them. The present has its pardonable amount of egotism; momentary life has its claims, and cannot be expected to sacrifice itself incessantly to the future. The generation which is in its turn passing over the earth is not forced to abridge its life for the sake of the generations, its equals after all, whose turn shall come later on.
If conversion to Christianity makes no improvement in a man's outward actions β if he continues to be just a snobbish or spiteful or envious or ambitious as he was before β then I think we must suspect that his 'conversion' was largely imaginary.
It was like certain dinners I remember from the war. There was much wine, an ignored tension, and a feeling of things coming that you could not prevent happening. Under the wine I lost the disgusted feeling and was happy. It seemed they were all such nice people.
No matter where; of comfort no man speak: Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth
Old age comes on suddenly, and not gradually as is thought.
When the State is corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied.