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
All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Successful revolutions often begin with a final push against a failing system.
John Kenneth Galbraith's quote suggests that meaningful change often comes as a result of the culmination of dissatisfaction with an existing system that is no longer effective. The imagery of a 'rotten door' conveys the idea that revolutions happen when the old structures can no longer sustain themselves, leading to a forceful entry into a new era.
Themes
RevolutionChangeSuccessSystemTransformation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the Arab Spring and its significance as a revolutionary movement.
More from John Kenneth Galbraith
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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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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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Were it part of our everyday education and comment that the corporation is an instrument for the exercise of power, that it belongs to the process by which we are governed, there would then be debate on how that power is used and how it might be made subordinate to the public will and need. This debate is avoided by propagating the myth that the power does not exist.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
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