I've always argued that this country has benefited immensely from the fact that we draw people from all over the world.
Alan GreenspanRead
Revolutions are something you see only in retrospect.
Interpretation
Revolutions are often only understood after they have occurred, reflecting on their implications.
Alan Greenspan's quote speaks to the nature of revolutions, suggesting that their significance and impact are often only clear when viewed through the lens of hindsight. It implies that change can be confusing and complex in the moment, yet the outcomes and lessons learned become more apparent as time passes.
In practice
During a discussion on historical events, someone might quote Greenspan to emphasize how we only appreciate certain revolutions after they've shaped our present.
I've always argued that this country has benefited immensely from the fact that we draw people from all over the world.
There's no other job in public life that is like chairman of the Fed.
Since 1948 I have spent every single day thinking how the economic and political worlds have changed.
Most high-income people in our country do not realize that their incomes are being subsidized by their protection from competition from highly skilled people who are prevented from immigrating to the United States. But we need such skills in order to staff our productive economy, so that the standard of living for Americans as a whole can grow.
I don't know where the stock market is going, but I will say this, that if it continues higher, this will do more to stimulate the economy than anything we've been talking about today or anything anybody else was talking about.
Every economy exists, no matter what the level of democracy, has elements of crony capitalism. It's - given human nature and given the democratic structures, which we all, I assume, adhere to, that is an inevitable consequence.
We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs subordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.
Nothing endures but change. There is nothing permanent except change. All is flux, nothing stays still.
I have no fears that on a purely merit basis, we will have an embarrassment of riches from which to choose in order to reach gender parity.
So much of growing up is an unbearable waiting. A constant longing for another time. Another season.
One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going--we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust the grit and dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.
Society, community, family are all conserving institutions. They try to maintain stability and to prevent, or at least slow down, change. But the organization of the post-capitalist society of organizations is a destabilizer. Because its function is to put knowledge to work - on tools, processes, and products; on work; on knowledge itself - it must be organized for constant change.
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