John Maynard Keynes
Most influential economist of the 20th century
Most quoted
"The master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch the abstract and the concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part of man's nature or his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician."
— from Alfred Marshall, 1842-1924
"The master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part of man's nature or his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician."
— from Alfred Marshall, 1842-1924, 1933
"The master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must be a mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part of man's nature or his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He must be purposeful and disinterested in a single mood; as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician."
— from Alfred Marshall, 1842-1924, 1924
All quotes by John Maynard Keynes (300)
The State is not a club of individuals, it is a society of societies.
The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: Economic Efficiency, Social Justice and Individual Liberty.
The social object of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelop our future.
The master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must be a mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree.
The world is not so governed from above that private and social interest always coincide.
The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.
The study of economics does not seem to require any specialised gifts of an unusually high order.
The difficulty is not to make money, but to keep it.
The State will have to exercise a guiding influence on the propensity to consume, partly through its scheme of taxation, partly by fixing the rate of interest, and partly, perhaps, in other ways.
The true test of a good economist is whether he can make a living by his theories.
We are suffering, not from the effects of a natural calamity or from an earthquake or from a famine, but from a failure of the human machine, from the breakdown of the economic machine.
The problem of poverty and the problem of unemployment are not the same.
The world is not a rational place.
The economic problem is not the permanent problem of the human race.
The cure for unemployment is to have more employment.
The policy of 'laissez-faire' is dead.
The individualistic capitalism of today, operating in conditions of 'laissez-faire', is not a success.
The ultimate object of economics is to make itself useless.
The economic machine is not self-adjusting.
The government should intervene to smooth out the business cycle.
Contemporaries of John Maynard Keynes
Other Economicss born within 50 years of John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946).