Nothing so denies a person liberty as the total absence of…

“Nothing so denies a person liberty as the total absence of money.”

John Kenneth Galbraith

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Lack of money restricts personal freedom because financial resources enable choices and autonomy.

In simple terms: Money is needed for liberty.

Key Takeaway

Secure basic income to protect freedom.

Themes

economic liberty financial autonomy social equity

Mood

concerned analytical

Type

political economic

When to use this quote

budgeting
social policy
personal finance
public welfare

Key Concepts

capitalism resource distribution inequality

Questions to Reflect On

How does wealth affect personal freedom?
What non‑financial factors limit liberty?

A Different Perspective

Money alone does not guarantee freedom; power structures also matter.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

More by John Kenneth Galbraith

Getting on the cover of TIME guarantees the existence of opposition in the future.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.

John Kenneth Galbraith

“Men can labor to make sense out of single steps toward the goal without ever pausing to reflect that the goal itself is ludicrous.”

John Kenneth Galbraith

Consumer wants can have bizarre, frivolous, or even immoral origins, and an admirable case can still be made for a society that seeks to…

John Kenneth Galbraith

That one never need to look beyond the love of money for explanation of human behavior is one of the most jealously guarded simplification…

John Kenneth Galbraith

Agriculture is one economic activity that does not obey the laws of demand and supply.

John Kenneth Galbraith

If we were not in Vietnam, all that part of the world would be enjoying the obscurity it so richly deserves.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Washington is a place where men praise courage and act on elaborate personal cost-benefit calculations.

John Kenneth Galbraith

World War II revealed two of the enduring features of the Keynesian Revolution. One was the moral difference between spending for welfare and spending…

John Kenneth Galbraith

Money is what fueled the industrial society. But in the informational society, the fuel, the power, is knowledge. One has now come to see…

John Kenneth Galbraith

While it will be desirable to achieve planned results, it will be even more important to avoid unplanned disasters.

John Kenneth Galbraith

A bad book is the worse that it cannot repent. It has not been the devil's policy to keep the masses of mankind in…

John Kenneth Galbraith

Genius is a rising stock market.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Mr. David Stockman has said that supply-side economics was merely a cover for the trickle-down approach to economic policy—what an older and less elegant…

John Kenneth Galbraith

Inventions that are not made, like babies that are not born, are rarely missed. In the absence of new developments, old ones may seem…

John Kenneth Galbraith

Explore all 434 John Kenneth Galbraith quotes

More Absence quotes

Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it.

James Howell

The work, the work, the work. This is what the business is all about. This is the fun, the glory, the pleasure. It's the…

Phil Dusenberry

Total depravity means the entire absence of holiness, not the highest intensity of sin. A totally depraved man is not as bad as he…

William Greenough Thayer Shedd

Local and state governments have outrun the federal government. The EPA has served notice that it will enact a rule requiring CO2 reductions by…

Al Gore

There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…

Toni Morrison

Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.

Willa Cather

Young men have strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…

Aristotle

It is suggested that in domestic violence at least the presence or absence of a firearm, or of any other type of weapon, is…

Colin Greenwood

The absence of God in most spheres of life is perceived to be normal, and even Christians feel it as normal - which is…

John Piper

Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and…

Maya Angelou

“I was thinking how most people don't make you feel much of anything at all. Don't make you feel like time spent with them…

Jane Lotter

Cooperation isn't the absence of conflict but a means of managing conflict.

Deborah Tannen

Many are observing Ferguson and witnessing the anger, demonstrations, looting and vandalism and calling for quiet. But quiet isn't enough. The absence of noise…

Jesse Jackson

Will capitalist economies operate at full employment in the absence of routine intervention? Certainly not. Are deviations from full employment a social problem? Obviously.

Janet Yellen

We must begin by acknowledging that there is a complete absence of two things in Indian Society. One of these is equality. On the…

B. R. Ambedkar

Browse all 2,057 Absence quotes

Nothing so denies a person liberty as the total absence of…

About This Quote

Related quotes

More by John Kenneth Galbraith

More Absence quotes