Economics, we learn in the history of thought, only became a science by escaping from the casuistry and moralizing of medieval thought.

Political conflict rests to a very large extent on a universal ignorance of consequences, as the people who are benefited by any particular act or policy are rarely those who struggled for it, and the people who are injured are rarely those who opposed it.

One reason why the progressive state is 'cheerful' is that social conflict is diminished by it.

[on the theory of the firm] It is exactly analogous to the analysis of the reactions of a consumer by means of indifferent curves. Indeed, a consumer is merely a 'firm' whose product is 'utility.'

Don't go to great trouble to optimize something that never should be done at all. Aim to enhance total systems properties, such as creativity, stability, diversity, resilience, and sustainability - whether they are easily measured or not.

In any evolutionary process, even in the arts, the search for novelty becomes corrupting.

Integrative power [is] the ultimate power