Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotations on Economics

In the usual (though certainly not in every) public decision on economic policy, the choice is between courses that are almost equally good or equally bad. It is the narrowest decisions that are most ardently debated. If the world is lucky enough to enjoy peace, it may even one day make the discovery, to the horror of doctrinaire free-enterprisers and doctrinaire planners alike, that what is called capitalism and what is called socialism are both capable of working quite well.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist

The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems—the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behavior and religion.
John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) English Economist

A nation is not in danger of financial disaster merely because it owes itself money.
Andrew W. Mellon (1855–1937) American Financier, Philanthropist

Economics and politics are the governing powers of life today, and that’s why everything is so screwy.
Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer

October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist

The science hangs like a gathering fog in a valley, a fog which begins nowhere and goes nowhere, an incidental, unmeaning inconvenience to passers-by.
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker

The history of the twentieth century – America’s century! – has been pretty much a history of rising prices… inflation is itself a problem. But the legitimate and hysterical fears of inflation are – quite aside from the evil of inflation itself – likely, in their own right, to be problems. In short, I fear inflation. And I fear the fear of inflation. Avoiding inflation is not an absolute imperative, but rather is one of a number of conflicting goals that we must pursue and that we may often have to compromise. Even if the military outlook were serene – and it is not – modern democracies must expect in the future to be much of the time at, or near, the point where inflation is a concern. Our greatest economic problem will be to face that concern realistically, to weigh inflation’s quantitative evil against the evils of actions taken against it, to develop methods of adjusting to the residue of inflation which attainment of the ‘golden mean’ might involve. The challenge is great but the prognosis is cheerful.
Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) American Economist

Scarcity creates value.
Seth Godin (b.1960) American Entrepreneur

Economic progress, in capitalist society, means turmoil.
Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) Austrian-American Political Economist, Sociologist

Men don’t and can’t live by exchanging articles, but by producing them. They don’t live by trade, but by work. Give up that foolish and vain title of Trades Unions; and take that of laborers Unions.
John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic

No nation was ever ruined by trade.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat

An economist is someone who knows more about money than the people who have it.
Unknown

If you took all the economists in the world and laid them end-to-end, they couldn’t reach a conclusion
Unknown

The government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American Head of State

If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid.
John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) English Economist

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.
Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.
Thomas Sowell (b.1930) American Conservative Economist, Political Commentator

I learned more about economics from one South Dakota dust storm than I did in all my years in college.
Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician

Frugality is founded on the principal that all riches have limits.
Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman

If your outgo exceeds your income your upkeep will be your downfall.
Anonymous

I think, without question, that unemployment of more than 6 per cent is something to be concerned about. You don’t push the panic button, but you don’t relax and enjoy it either… I myself don’t believe in a numbers game in which you give a maximum tolerable percentage, because I think, truly, it does vary with the times… I would hesitate to specify the figure today, but I will say this: it would be, in my mind, less than a 4 per cent figure – that is, for the period ahead. I would not, realistically, think we could hope for a 2 per cent figure in the near future, as certain European countries have been able to do. But I do think that if we are pretty zealous in this matter and insist upon getting low figures – say, 3.5 per cent – then our very success in accomplishing that may lead to a new epoch just beyond when we could hope to go below 3 per cent…
Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) American Economist

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer

Commerce flourishes by circumstances, precarious, transitory, contingent, almost as the winds and waves that bring it to our shores.
Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist

In economics the majority is always wrong.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist

We are enjoying sluggish times and not enjoying them very much.
George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President

If all the economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright

My other piece of advice, Copperfield, said Mr. Micawber, you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and – and in short you are for ever floored. As I am!
Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist

In a society of little economic development, universal inactivity accompanies universal poverty. You survive not by struggling against nature, or by increasing production, or by relentless labor; instead you survive by expending as little energy as possible, by striving constantly to achieve a state of immobility.
Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932–2007) Polish Journalist

A force that operates year-in and year-out, whenever we are at high employment, to push up prices. It’s a price creep, not a price gallop; but the bad thing about it is that, instead of setting in only after you have reached overfull employment, the suspicion is dawning that it may be a problem that plagues us even when we haven’t arrived at a satisfactory level of employment.
Paul Samuelson (1915–2009) American Economist

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer

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