As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method of investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes.
But my lord, when we addressed this issue a few years ago, didn't you argue the other side?" He said, "That's true, but when I get more evidence I sometimes change my mind. What do you do?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of being open-minded and willing to change one's perspective based on new evidence.
In this quote, John Maynard Keynes reflects on the intellectual honesty required in discourse and decision-making. He acknowledges that his views have evolved as he has encountered new evidence, prompting a change in his stance on an issue. This illustrates the necessity of adaptability in thought and highlights the value of critical thinking, suggesting that one should not be rigidly attached to previous beliefs when presented with compelling new information.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a debate to emphasize the importance of adapting one's viewpoint based on new information.
More from John Maynard Keynes
All quotes →The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is generally understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.
The disruptive powers of excessive national fecundity may have played a greater part in bursting the bonds of convention than either the power of ideas or the errors of autocracy.
We will not have any more crashes in our time.
This long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is long past the ocean is flat again.
The book, as it stands, seems to me to be one of the most frightful muddles I have ever read, with scarcely a sound proposition in it beginning with page 45 [Hayek provided historical background up to page 45; after that came his theoretical model], and yet it remains a book of some interest, which is likely to leave its mark on the mind of the reader. It is an extraordinary example of how, starting with a mistake, a remorseless logician can end up in bedlam.
Similar quotes
We have nothing to lose by trusting the infinite power of the Self, except the bondage of our own ignorance.
Manners must adorn knowledge and smooth its way in the world, without them it is like a great rough diamond, very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value; but most prized when polished.
People tend the take everything too seriously. Especially themselves. Yep. And that's probably what makes 'em scared and hurt so much of the time. Life is too serious to take that seriously.
Programming is not a zero-sum game. Teaching something to a fellow programmer doesn't take it away from you. I'm happy to share what I can, because I'm in it for the love of programming.
Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.
Put aside your need for a step-by-step manual and instead realize that analogies are your best friend.