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
Money is a singular thing. It ranks with love as man's greatest source of joy. And with death as his greatest source of anxiety. Over all history it has oppressed nearly all people in one of two ways: either it has been abundant and very unreliable, or reliable and very scarce.
Interpretation
Money can bring joy and anxiety, reflecting its dual nature in human life.
In this quote, John Kenneth Galbraith highlights the complex relationship humans have with money. He suggests that while money can be a source of great happiness, akin to love, it also induces significant stress, similar to the fear of death. Throughout history, the experience of money has been polarized, with it either being plentiful yet unstable or scarce but dependable, affecting societies in various ways.
In practice
In a speech about financial literacy, one might share this quote to emphasize the emotional impact of money.
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.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
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.
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
He who understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke.
By binding image and desire, glamour gives us pleasure, even as it heightens our yearning. It leads us to feel that the life we dream of exists, and to desire it even more.
There should be weeping at a man's birth, not at his death.
That is our vocation: to convert the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced.
Sometimes the story we're telling the world isn't half as endearing as the one that lives inside us.
It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing.
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