I do not know which makes a man more conservative – to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
Meaning of the quote
Being too focused on just the present or just the past can both make someone more unwilling to change or try new things. If you only know about what's happening right now, you may not want to try different ideas. But if you only know about the past, you might also resist change and new ways of thinking. The best approach is to try to understand both the present and the past, so you can make good decisions for the future.
About John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes was an influential 20th-century English economist and philosopher whose ideas revolutionized macroeconomics and government economic policies. He challenged the prevailing economic theories of his time and advocated for the use of fiscal and monetary policies to stabilize the economy during recessions and depressions.
More quotes from John Maynard Keynes
It would not be foolish to contemplate the possibility of a far greater progress still.
British economist (1883-1946)
The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future.
British economist (1883-1946)
Ideas shape the course of history.
British economist (1883-1946)
It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.
British economist (1883-1946)
There is no harm in being sometimes wrong – especially if one is promptly found out.
British economist (1883-1946)
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.
British economist (1883-1946)
The disruptive powers of excessive national fecundity may have played a greater part in bursting the bonds of convention than either the power of ideas or the errors of autocracy.
British economist (1883-1946)
If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid.
British economist (1883-1946)
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
British economist (1883-1946)
Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent.
British economist (1883-1946)
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
British economist (1883-1946)
The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
British economist (1883-1946)
Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others.
British economist (1883-1946)
Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own.
British economist (1883-1946)
The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn’t deliver the goods.
British economist (1883-1946)
A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind.
British economist (1883-1946)
Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.
British economist (1883-1946)
I do not know which makes a man more conservative – to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
British economist (1883-1946)
Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.
British economist (1883-1946)
The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems – the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behavior and religion.
British economist (1883-1946)
The social object of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelope our future.
British economist (1883-1946)
Like Odysseus, the President looked wiser when he was seated.
British economist (1883-1946)
I work for a Government I despise for ends I think criminal.
British economist (1883-1946)
In the long run we are all dead.
British economist (1883-1946)
Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering what average opinion believes average opinion to be.
British economist (1883-1946)
By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
British economist (1883-1946)
For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to every one that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still.
British economist (1883-1946)
Most men love money and security more, and creation and construction less, as they get older.
British economist (1883-1946)