Economics Quotes by John Maynard Keynes

“I would rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong.”

— John Maynard Keynes

Economics is a very dangerous science.

— John Maynard Keynes

Men will not always die quietly.

— John Maynard Keynes

What an extraordinary episode in the economic progress of man was that age which came to an end in August 1914.

— John Maynard Keynes

“With the breakdown of money economy the practice of international barter is becoming prevalent.”

— John Maynard Keynes

What an extraordinary episode in the economic progress of man that age was which came to an end in August, 1914!

— John Maynard Keynes

The study of economics does not seem to require any specialised gifts of an unusually high order.

— John Maynard Keynes

Gold is a relic from a time when government's were less trustworthy in these matters (currency debasement) than they are now.

— John Maynard Keynes

He had one illusion - France; and one disillusion - mankind, including Frenchmen.

— John Maynard Keynes

It is astonishing what foolish things one can temporarily believe if one thinks too long alone, particularly in economics.

— John Maynard Keynes

There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency.

— John Maynard Keynes

I think that Capitalism, wisely managed, can probably be made more efficient for attaining economic ends than any alternative system yet in…

— John Maynard Keynes

“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work together for the benefit…

— John Maynard Keynes

I believe myself to be writing a book on economic theory which will largely revolutionize - not, I suppose, at once but…

— John Maynard Keynes

The Economic Problem...the problem of want and poverty and the economic struggle between classes and nations, is nothing but a frightful muddle,…

— John Maynard Keynes

“Our attitude to these criticisms must be determined by our whole moral and emotional reaction to the future of international relations and…

— John Maynard Keynes

Dangerous acts can be done safely in a community which thinks and feels rightly, which would be the way to hell if…

— John Maynard Keynes

“By this means the government may secretly and unobserved, confiscate the wealth of the people, and not one man in a million…

— John Maynard Keynes

The treasury could fill old bottles with banknotes and bury them..and leave it to private enterprises on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to…

— John Maynard Keynes

Too large a proportion of recent "mathematical" economics are mere concoctions, as imprecise as the initial assumptions they rest on, which allow…

— John Maynard Keynes

Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalistic System was to debauch the currency. . .…

— John Maynard Keynes

Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to…

— John Maynard Keynes

“I sympathize, therefore, with those who would minimize, rather than with those who would maximize, economic entanglement among nations. Ideas, knowledge, science,…

— John Maynard Keynes

The book, as it stands, seems to me to be one of the most frightful muddles I have ever read, with scarcely…

— John Maynard Keynes

Those, who are strongly wedded to what I shall call 'the classical theory', will fluctuate, I expect, between a belief that I…

— John Maynard Keynes

The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of…

— John Maynard Keynes

Unlike physics, for example, such parts of the bare bones of economic theory as are expressible in mathematical form are extremely easy…

— John Maynard Keynes

“The war has ended with every one owing every one else immense sums of money. Germany owes a large sum to the…

— John Maynard Keynes

Economic privation proceeds by easy stages, and so long as men suffer it patiently the outside world cares little.

— John Maynard Keynes

The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: economic efficiency, social justice and individual liberty.

— John Maynard Keynes

It economics is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique of thinking which helps its possessor…

— John Maynard Keynes

I expect to see the State, which is in a position to calculate the marginal efficiency of capital-goods on long views and…

— John Maynard Keynes

The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It…

— John Maynard Keynes

If I am right in supposing it to be comparatively easy to make capital-goods so abundant that the marginal efficiency of capital…

— John Maynard Keynes

The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is…

— John Maynard Keynes

Economists must leave to Adam Smith alone the glory of the Quarto, must pluck the day, fling pamphlets into the wind, write…

— John Maynard Keynes

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of…

— John Maynard Keynes

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

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good…

— John Maynard Keynes

This long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too…

— John Maynard Keynes