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

I predict, not because I know, but because I'm asked.

Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves to imagine. A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt. It is now the only place in our overly active world that does.

Had the Bible been in clear straightforward language, had the ambiguities and contradictions been edited out, and had the language been constantly modernised to accord with contemporary taste it would almost certainly have been, or become, a work of lesser influence.

I react pragmatically. Where the market works, I'm for that. Where the government is necessary, I'm for that. I'm deeply suspicious of somebody who says, 'I'm in favor of privatization,' or, 'I'm deeply in favor of public ownership.' I'm in favor of whatever works in the particular case.

Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.

The huge capacity to purchase submission that goes with any large sum of money, well, this we have. This is a power of which we should all be aware.