Economists, on the whole, think well of what they do themselves and much less well of what their professional colleagues do.

Increasingly in recent times we have come first to identify the remedy that is most agreeable, most convenient, most in accord with major pecuniary or political interest, the one that reflects our available faculty for action; then we move from the remedy so available or desired back to a cause to which that remedy is relevant.

It is a well known and very important fact that America's founding fathers did not like taxation without representation. It is a lesser known and equally important fact that they did not much like taxation with representation.

Foreign policy is conducted for the convenience and enjoyment of people in Washington.

Humor is richly rewarding to the person who employs it. It has some value in gaining and holding attention, but it has no persuasive value at all.

There is an old saying, or should be, that it is a wise economist who recognizes the scope of his own generalizations.

If you get a reputation for being honest, you have 95 percent of the competition already beat.