If there must be madness, something may be said for having it on a heroic scale

People are the common denominator of progress. So no improvement is possible with unimproved people, and advance is certain when people are liberated and educated. It would be wrong to dismiss the importance of roads, railroads, power plants, mills,and the other familiar furniture of economic development. But we are coming to realize that there is a certain sterility in economic monuments that stand alone in a sea of illiteracy. Conquest of illiteracy comes first.

In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire for respectability.

The oldest [John Kenneth] Galbraith rule is that when you hear that a new era has dawned, you should take cover.

If we are concerned about our great appetite for materials, it is plausible to decrease waste, to make better use of stocks available, and to develop substitutes. But what about the appetite itself? The major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialised countries

People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.

Faced with having to change our views or prove that there is no need to do so, most of us immediately get busy on the proof.