Talk:John Kenneth Galbraith

"The shit hit the fan!" is a rather common expression, and though JKG might have said it, I don't see why it should remain here, unless some context is provided. ~ Achilles 14:25, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Given that 212.219.82.36 "contributed" only that I think it was a troll (strange argument from my position). Deleted.84.144.84.53 17:15, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It is hard to believe, but in fact there is decent evidence that JKG coined this wonderful phrase, on page 45 of "Ambassador's Journal". On p 274 of his memoirs, "A Life in Our Times", he recounts an anecdote of being approached in an airport by someone who wanted to congratulate him for having done so. I have reinserted it ... http://books.google.co.uk/books?q=galbraith+%22shit+hit+the+fan%22. I have also sourced a couple of the unsourced quotes and annotated a few apocryphal ones below in order to demonstrate a degree of good faith and that I am not a troll.

It looks like he did not coin it. For a discussion see. In particular, Norman Mailer used "[w]hen the shit hits the fan" in print in 1948. I think this quote should be deleted. Crust (talk) 16:27, 7 May 2017 (UTC)

"In consequence, neoclassical and neo-Keynesian economics regulates its players to the social sidelines."

It seems to me that the word relegates would fit much better here. Might this be a transcription error? --210.246.20.194 02:44, 2 May 2006 (UTC) (w:en:User:Ejrh)

Unsourced
Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to John Kenneth Galbraith. --Antiquary 19:53, 6 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.


 * Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everybody gets busy on the proof.


 * In economics, the majority is always wrong.


 * It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals. But, there is no alternative to the state.


 * Meetings are a great trap. Soon you find yourself trying to get agreement and then the people who disagree come to think they have a right to be persuaded. However, they are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.


 * Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not. (apocryphal in this form but common in books of quotations - have put the correct version in the main page)


 * Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.


 * One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.


 * The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the poor.


 * The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.


 * The happiest time of anyone's life is just after the first divorce.


 * 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.


 * There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose. (appears credited to Galbraith in the Observer's "Sayings of the year" for 1968 but not elsewhere)


 * Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite (this does appear in "A life in our times", but Galbraith is quoting what he describes as an old Polish joke).


 * We all agree that pessimism is a mark of superior intellect.


 * Where humor is concerned there are no standards — no one can say what is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will.


 * You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.


 * The truth is not the average of right and wrong.

Old JKG Quote i believe
There was a article about John Kenneth Galbraith in a old Time Magazineback in the '70's I believe. There was a published quote, I believe that went something like "If you dont know what you want, but know what you dont want and if you get what you didn't want, then you got what you wanted". I haven't been able to find it. Is my wording accurate ...am I correct? 2quiet2 (talk) 01:50, 25 July 2017 (UTC)