One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen to their critics with just enough sympathy to ensure their silence.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of other ideas but to the massive onslaught of circumstance with which they cannot contend.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ideas tend to resist change until confronted by overwhelming real-world circumstances.
This quote by John Kenneth Galbraith suggests that ideas remain stable and entrenched, often unchallenged by opposing thoughts or concepts. Instead, they are more likely to be altered or discarded in response to significant external pressures or changes in circumstances that they cannot effectively counter.
Themes
IdeasChangeCircumstanceResistancePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about social change, one might emphasize that enduring beliefs will change only when faced with undeniable realities.
More from John Kenneth Galbraith
All quotes βIf all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
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All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
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Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.
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People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
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