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
I react pragmatically. Where the market works, I'm for that. Where the government is necessary, I'm for that. I'm deeply suspicious of somebody who says, 'I'm in favor of privatization,' or, 'I'm deeply in favor of public ownership.' I'm in favor of whatever works in the particular case.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes a pragmatic approach to economic systems, valuing effectiveness over ideology.
John Kenneth Galbraith's quote highlights the importance of pragmatism in economic thought, suggesting that one should not adhere strictly to ideologies such as privatization or public ownership. Instead, he advocates for a flexible approach that prioritizes what actually works in a given situation, reflecting a stance that values results over rigid beliefs.
Themes
PragmatismEconomicsFlexibilityIdeologyEffectiveness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a business presentation to emphasize the importance of adaptability in strategy.
More from John Kenneth Galbraith
All quotes →If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
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.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Similar quotes
Humankind can't stand too much reality.
T. S. EliotRead
The presence of a noble nature, generous in its wishes, ardent in its charity, changes the lights for us: we begin to see things again in their larger, quieter masses, and to believe that we too can be seen and judged in the wholeness of our character.
George EliotRead
History, as the study of the past, makes the coherence of what happened comprehensible by reducing events to a dramatic pattern and seeming them in a simple form.
Johan HuizingaRead
Any psychology of sign systems will be part of social psychology - that is to say, will be exclusively social; it will involve the same psychology as is applicable in the case of languages.
Ferdinand De SaussureRead
All service ranks the same with God,- With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we: there is no last nor first.
Robert BrowningRead
Plato used the dialogue format because the exchange of views, the posing and answering of questions, showed that understanding is a living, dynamic process. He distrusted writing because the settled character of the written word makes it look as if truth can be fixed and made to stand still. It is worth remembering that this greatest advocate of the objective reality of truth also believed that our access to that truth was sustained in reasoned discussion.
John Churchill, 1St Duke Of MarlboroughRead