I shall argue that it is the capital stock from which we derive satisfaction, not from the additions to it (production) or the subtractions from it (consumption): that consumption, far from being a desideratum, is a deplorable property of the capital stock which necessitates the equally deplorable activity of production: and that the objective of economic policy should not be to maximize consumption or production, but rather to minimize it, i.e. to enable us to maintain our capital stock with as little consumption or production as possible.

The world moves into the future as a result of decisions, not as a result of plans. Plans are significant only insofar as they affect decisions.

We should always bear in mind that numbers represent a simplification of reality.

[The historical] development in the international system may almost be defined as the process by which we pass from stable war to stable peace.

Knowledge exists in minds, not in books. Before what has been found can be used by practitioners, someone must organize it, integrate it, extract the message.

There is no such thing as economics, only social science applied to economic problems.

We make our tools, and then they shape us.