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If The Treasury Were To Fill Old Bottles With Bank-notes, Bury Them At Suitable Depths In Disused Coal-mines Which Are Then Filled Up To The Surface With Town Rubbish, And Leave It To Private Enterprise On Well-tried Principles Of Laissez-faire To Dig The Notes Up Again (the Right To Do So Being Obtained, Of Course, By Tendering For Leases Of The Note-bearing Territory), There Need Be No More Unemployment And, With The Help Of Repercussions, The Real Income Of The Community, And Its Capital Wealth, Would Probably Become A Good Deal Greater Than It Actually Is.
-John Maynard Keynes
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If The Treasury Were

John Maynard Keynes
If The Treasury Were To Fill Old Bottles With Bank-notes, Bury Them At Suitable Depths In Disused Coal-mines Which Are Then Filled Up To The Surface With Town Rubbish, And Leave It To Private Enterprise On Well-tried Principles Of Laissez-faire To Dig The Notes Up Again (the Right To Do So Being Obtained, Of Course, By Tendering For Leases Of The Note-bearing Territory), There Need Be No More Unemployment And, With The Help Of Repercussions, The Real Income Of The Community, And Its Capital Wealth, Would Probably Become A Good Deal Greater Than It Actually Is.
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Real
Filled Up
Digging A Hole
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It Is Generally Agreed That Casinos Should, In The Public Interest, Be Inaccessible And Expensive. And Perhaps The Same Is True Of Stock Exchanges.
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There Is Nothing So Disastrous As A Rational Investment Policy In An Irrational World.
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I Feel No Shame At Being Found Still Owning A Share When The Bottom Of The Market Comes…i Would Go Much Further Than That. I Should Say That It Is From Time To Time The Duty Of A Serious Investor To Accept The Depreciation Of His Holdings With Equanimity And Without Reproaching Himself. … An Investor…should Be Aiming Primarily At Long-period Results, And Should Be Solely Judged By These.
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I Know Of Only Three People Who Really Understand Money. A Professor At Another University. One Of My Students. And A Rather Junior Clerk At The Bank Of England.
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The Master-economist Must Possess A Rare Combination Of Gifts. He Must Reach A High Standard In Several Different Directions And Must Combine Talents Not Often Found Together. He Must Be Mathematician, Historian, Statesman, Philosopher - In Some Degree. He Must Understand Symbols And Speak In Words. He Must Contemplate The Particular In Terms Of The General, And Touch Abstract And Concrete In The Same Flight Of Thought. He Must Study The Present In The Light Ofthe Past For The Purposes Of The Future
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It Is Not The Ownership Of The Instruments Of Production Which It Is Important For The State To Assume. If The State Is Able To Determine The Aggregate Amount Of Resources Devoted To Augmenting The Instruments And The Basic Rate Of Reward To Those Who Own Them, It Will Have Accomplished All That Is Necessary. Moreover, The Necessary Measures Of Socialization Can Be Introduced Gradually And Without A Break In The General Traditions Of Society.
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An Investor Who Proposes To Ignore Near-term Market Fluctuations Needs Greater Resources For Safety And Must Not Operate On So Large A Scale, If At All, With Borrowed Money.
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The Biggest Problem Is Not To Let People Accept New Ideas, But To Let Them Forget The Old Ones.
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Words Ought To Be A Little Wild, For They Are The Assault Of Thoughts On The Unthinking.
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Businessmen Have A Different Set Of Delusions From Politicians; And Need, Therefore, Different Handling. They Are, However, Much Milder Than Politicians, At The Same Time Allured And Terrified By The Glare Of Publicity....you Could Do Anything You Like With Them, If You Would Treat Them (even The Big Ones) Not As Wolves And Tigers, But As Domestic Animals By Nature, Even Though They Have Been Badly Brought Up And Not Trained As You Would Wish.
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When My Information Changes, I Alter My Conclusions. What Do You Do, Sir?
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In This Autumn Of 1919, In Which I Write, We Are At The Dead Season Of Our Fortunes.
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I Conceive, Therefore, That A Somewhat Comprehensive Socialisation Of Investment Will Prove The Means Of Securing An Approximation To Full Employment.
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Ideas Shape The Course Of History.
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Two
Quality
When The Facts Change, I Change My Mind.
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Mind
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Two
Three
Investing
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Track
He Had One Illusion - France; And One Disillusion - Mankind, Including Frenchmen.
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Past
Ideas
Men Will Not Always Die Quietly.
Men
Economics
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I Do Not Know Which Makes A Man More Conservative - To Know Nothing But The Present, Or Nothing But The Past.
Acceptance
Past
Men
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Responsibility
Views
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The Forces Of The Nineteenth Century Have Run Their Course And Are Exhausted.
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If The Treasury Were To Fill Old Bottles With Bank-notes, Bury Them At Suitable Depths In Disused Coal-mines Which Are Then Filled Up To The Surface With Town Rubbish, And Leave It To Private Enterprise On Well-tried Principles Of Laissez-faire To Dig The Notes Up Again (the Right To Do So Being Obtained, Of Course, By Tendering For Leases Of The Note-bearing Territory), There Need Be No More Unemployment And, With The Help Of Repercussions, The Real Income Of The Community, And Its Capital Wealth, Would Probably Become A Good Deal Greater Than It Actually Is.
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Filled Up
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When I Find New Information I Change My Mind; What Do You Do?
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This Siren, This Goat-footed Bard, This Half Human Visitor To Our Age The Hag-ridden And Enchanted Woods Of Celtic Antiquity. One Catches In His Company That Flavour Of Final Purposelessness, Inner Responsibility, Existence Outside Or Away From Our Saxon Good And Evil, Mixed With Cunning, Remorselessness, Love Of Power.
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Evil
Age
Newton Was Not The First Of The Age Of Reason, He Was The Last Of The Magicians.
Science
Age
Lasts
The Expected Never Happens; It Is The Unexpected Always.
Investing
Unexpected
Expected
Nothing Mattered Except States Of Mind, Chiefly Our Own.
Pregnancy
Intelligent
Mind
I Work For A Government I Despise For Ends I Think Criminal.
Thinking
Government
Criminals
It Is Impossible That The Intention Of The Entrepreneur Who Has Borrowed In Order To Increase Investment Can Become Effective (except In Substitution For Investment By Other Entrepreneurs Which Would Have Occurred Otherwise) At A Faster Rate Than The Public Decide To Increase Their Savings
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Entrepreneur
The Atomic Hypothesis Which Had Worked So Splendidly In Physics Breaks Down In Psychics.
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Physics
Breaking Down
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Average
America
Lenin Is Said To Have Declared That The Best Way To Destroy The Capitalistic System Was To Debauch The Currency. . . Lenin Was Certainly Right. There Is No Subtler, No Surer Means Of Overturning The Existing Basis Of Society Than To Debauch The Currency. The Process Engages All The Hidden Forces Of Economic Law On The Side Of Destruction, And Does It In A Manner Which Not One Man In A Million Can Diagnose.
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Men
Law
Markets Can Remain Irrational Longer Than You Can Remain Solvent.
Money
Investing
Investment
It Is Ideas, Not Vested Interests, Which Are Dangerous For Good Or Evil.
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Evil
Dangerous
The Principle Objectives In Life Are Love, The Creation And Enjoyment If Aesthetic Experience, The Pursuit Of Knowledge. Love Comes A Long Way First.
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Principles
Way
It Is Astonishing What Foolish Things One Can Temporarily Believe If One Thinks Too Long Alone, Particularly In Economics.
Believe
Thinking
Long
The Destruction Of The Inducement To Invest By An Excessive Liquidity-preference Was The Outstanding Evil, The Prime Impediment To The Growth Of Wealth, In The Ancient And Medieval Worlds.
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Growth
World
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Sight
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...by Combining A Popular Hatred Of The Class Of Entrepreneurs With The Blow Already Given To Social Security By The Violent And Arbitrary Disturbance Of Contract,... Governments Are Fast Rendering Impossible A Continuance Of The Social And Economic Order Of The Nineteenth Century.
Blow
Government
Order
I Believe That The Future Will Learn More From The Spirit Of Gesell Than From That Of Marx .
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Spirit
I Believe
The Boom, Not The Slump, Is The Right Time For Austerity At The Treasury.
Slumps
Investing
Austerity
Too Large A Proportion Of Recent "mathematical" Economics Are Mere Concoctions, As Imprecise As The Initial Assumptions They Rest On, Which Allow The Author To Lose Sight Of The Complexities And Interdependencies Of The Real World In A Maze Of Pretentious And Unhelpful Symbols.
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Investing
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Scarcity
Reason
Capitalism
Education: The Inculcation Of The Incomprehensible Into The Indifferent By The Incompetent.
Education
Economics
Indifferent
The Great Events Of History Are Often Due To Secular Changes In The Growth Of Population And Other Fundamental Economic Causes, Which, Escaping By Their Gradual Character The Notice Of Contemporary Observers, Are Attributed To The Follies Of Statesmen Or The Fanaticism Of Atheists .
Atheist
Character
Escaping
When The Final Result Is Expected To Be A Compromise, It Is Often Prudent To Start From An Extreme Position.
Finals
Prudent
Compromise
In Truth, The Gold Standard Is Already A Barbarous Relic.
Gold
Standards
Relics
The Ideas Of Economists And Political Philosophers, Both When They Are Right And When They Are Wrong, Are More Powerful Than Is Generally Understood. Indeed, The World Is Ruled By Little Else.
Powerful
Freedom
Ideas
I Think That Capitalism, Wisely Managed, Can Probably Be Made More Efficient For Attaining Economic Ends Than Any Alternative System Yet In Sight, But That In Itself Is In Many Ways Extremely Objectionable.
Thinking
Sight
Alternatives
The Spectacle Of Modern Investment Markets Has Sometimes Moved Me Towards The Conclusion That To Make The Purchase Of An Investment Permanent And Indissoluble, Like Marriage, Except By Reason Of Death Or Other Grave Cause, Might Be A Useful Remedy For Our Contemporary Evils. For This Would Force The Investor To Direct His Mind To The Long-term Prospects And To Those Only.
Long
Evil
Mind
A Study Of The History Of Opinion Is A Necessary Preliminary To The Emancipation Of The Mind.
History
Mind
Opinion
One Blames Politicians, Not For Inconsistency But For Obstinacy. They Are The Interpreters, Not The Masters, Of Our Fate. It Is Their Job, In Fact, To Register The Fact Accompli.
Jobs
Fate
Politics
The Avoidance Of Taxes Is The Only Intellectual Pursuit That Still Carries Any Reward.
Funny
Business
Humor
Economic Privation Proceeds By Easy Stages, And So Long As Men Suffer It Patiently The Outside World Cares Little.
Men
Long
Suffering
The Difficulty Lies, Not In The New Ideas, But In Escaping The Old Ones, Which Ramify, For Those Brought Up As Most Of Us Have Been, Into Every Corner Of Our Minds.
Education
Fear
Lying
It Is The Duty Of The Long-term Investor To Endure Great Losses With Equanimity.
Loss
Long
Investing
Perhaps It Is Historically True That No Order Of Society Ever Perishes Save By Its Own Hand.
Hands
Order
We Will Not Have Any More Crashes In Our Time.
Depression
Great Depression
Crash
They Offer Me Neither Food Nor Drink - Intellectual Nor Spiritual Consolation... [conservatism] Leads Nowhere; It Satisfies No Ideal; It Conforms To No Intellectual Standard, It Is Not Safe, Or Calculated To Preserve From The Spoilers That Degree Of Civilization Which We Have Already Attained.
Spiritual
Civilization
Intellectual
Like Odysseus, The President Looked Wiser When He Was Seated.
President
Odysseus
Wiser
If Farming Were To Be Organised Like The Stock Market, A Farmer Would Sell His Farm In The Morning When It Was Raining, Only To Buy It Back In The Afternoon When The Sun Came Out.
Wise
Morning
Rain
If Human Nature Felt No Temptation To Take A Chance There Might Not Be Much Investment Merely As A Result Of Cold Calculation.
Business
Temptation
Might
Never In History Was There A Method Devised Of Such Efficacy For Setting Each Country's Advantage At Variance With Its Neighbours' As The International Gold (or, Formerly, Silver) Standard.
Country
Gold
Investing
Professional Investment May Be Likened To Those Newspaper Competitions In Which The Competitors Have To Pick Out The Six Prettiest Faces From A Hundred Photographs, The Prize Being Awarded To The Competitor Whose Choice Most Nearly Corresponds To The Average Preferences Of The Competitors As A Whole.
Average
Choices
Competition
Investment Based On Genuine Long-term Expectations Is So Difficult Today As To Be Scarcely Practicable.
Long
Expectations
Investing
The Classical Theorists Resemble Euclidean Geometers In A Non-euclidean World Who, Discovering That In Experience Straight Lines Apparently Parallel Often Meet, Rebuke The Lines For Not Keeping Straight As The Only Remedy For The Unfortunate Collisions Which Are Occurring. Yet, In Truth, There Is No Remedy Except To Throw Over The Axiom Of Parallels And To Work Out A Non-euclidean Geometry.
Work Out
World
Lines
... A Speculator Is One Who Runs Risks Of Which He Is Aware And An Investor Is One Who Runs Risks Of Which He Is Unaware.
Running
Risk
Investing
The Social Object Of Skilled Investment Should Be To Defeat The Dark Forces Of Time And Ignorance Which Envelope Our Future.
Ignorance
Dark
Skills
Morally And Philosophically I Find Myself In Agreement With Virtually The Whole Of It: And Not Only In Agreement With It, But In Deeply Moved Agreement.
Philosophy
Book
Agreement
Pyramid-building, Earthquakes, Even Wars May Serve To Increase Wealth, If The Education Of Our Statesmen On The Principles Of The Classical Economics Stands In The Way Of Anything Better.
War
Earthquakes
Pyramids
Worldly Wisdom Teaches That It Is Better For Reputation To Fail Conventionally Than To Succeed Unconventionally.
Succeed
Reputation
Failing
The Outstanding Faults Of The Economic Society In Which We Live Are Its Failure To Provide For Full Employment And Its Arbitrary And Inequitable Distribution Of Wealth And Incomes.
Income
Employment
Arbitrary
All Production Is For The Purpose Of Ultimately Satisfying A Consumer.
Purpose
Consumers
Satisfying
The Idea Behind Stamped Money Is Sound.
Ideas
Sound
Behinds
It's Not Bringing In The New Ideas That's So Hard; It's Getting Rid Of The Old Ones.
Ideas
New Ideas
Hard
Canada Is A Place Of Infinite Promise. We Like The People, And If One Ever Had To Emigrate, This Would Be The Destination, Not The U.s.a. The Hills, Lakes And Forests Make It A Place Of Peace And Repose Of The Mind, Such As One Never Finds In The U.s.a.
Lakes
People
Promise
If We Aim Deliberately At The Impoverishment Of Central Europe, Vengeance, I Dare Predict, Will Not Limp.
Europe
Vengeance
Dare
Nevertheless, If We Contemplate A Society With A Somewhat Stable Wage-unit, With National Characteristics Which Determine The Propensity To Consume And The Preference For Liquidity, And With A Monetary System Which Rigidly Links The Quantity Of Money To The Stock Of The Precious Metals, It Will Be Essential For The Maintenance Of Prosperity That The Authorities Should Pay Close Attention To The State Of The Balance Of Trade. For A Favourable Balance, Provided It Is Not Too Large, Will Prove Extremely Stimulating; Whilst An Unfavourable Balance May Soon Produce A State Of Persistent Depression.
Balance
Essentials
Attention
I See, Therefore, The Rentier Aspect Of Capitalism As A Transitional Phase Which Will Disappear When It Has Done Its Work. And With The Disappearance Of Its Rentier Aspect Much Else In It Besides Will Suffer A Sea-change. It Will Be, Moreover, A Great Advantage Of The Order Of Events Which I Am Advocating, That The Euthanasia Of The Rentier, Of The Functionless Investor, Will Be Nothing Sudden, Merely A Gradual But Prolonged Continuance Of What We Have Seen Recently In Great Britain, And Will Need No Revolution.
Wisdom
Order
Sea
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.
Beautiful
War
Intelligent
I Don't Feel The Least Humble Before The Vastness Of The Heavens.
Humble
Heaven
Vastness
Nor Should The Argument Seem Strange That Taxation May Be So High As To Defeat Its Object, And That, Given Sufficient Time To Gather The Fruits, A Reduction Of Taxation Will Run A Better Chance Than An Increase Of Balancing The Budget.
Running
Investing
Taxation
I Do Not Mean To Impugn The Social Justice And Social Expediency Of The Redistribution Of Incomes Aimed At By N.i.r.a. And By The Various Schemes For Agricultural Restriction. The Latter, In Particular, I Should Strongly Support In Principle. But Too Much Emphasis On The Remedial Value Of A Higher Price-level As An Object In Itself May Lead To Serious Misapprehension As To The Part Which Prices Can Play In The Technique Of Recovery. The Stimulation Of Output By Increasing Aggregate Purchasing Power Is The Right Way To Get Prices Up; And Not The Other Way Round.
Mean
Recovery
Play
Once We Allow Ourselves To Be Disobedient To The Test Of An Accountant's Profit, We Have Begun To Change Our Civilization.
Civilization
Tests
Profit
Successful Investing Is Anticipating The Anticipations Of Others.
Wise
Successful
Investing
It Has Been Pointed Out Already That No Knowledge Of Probabilities, Less In Degree Than Certainty, Helps Us To Know What Conclusions Are True, And That There Is No Direct Relation Between The Truth Of A Proposition And Its Probability. Probability Begins And Ends With Probability.
Truth
Math
Degrees
Perhaps A Day Might Come When There Would Be At Last Be Enough To Go Round, And When Posterity Could Enter Into The Enjoyment Of Our Labors.
Would Be
Might
Lasts
The Introduction Of A Substantial Government Transfer Tax On All Transactions Might Prove The Most Serviceable Reform Available,with A View To Mitigating The Predominance Of Speculation In The United States.
Government
Views
United States
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.
Real
Heart
Religion
It Economics Is A Method Rather Than A Doctrine, An Apparatus Of The Mind, A Technique Of Thinking Which Helps Its Possessor To Draw Correct Conclusions.
Thinking
Mind
Doctrine
The Power To Become Habituated To His Surroundings Is A Marked Characteristic Of Mankind.
Characteristics
Surroundings
Mankind
Government Machinery Has Been Described As A Marvelous Labor Saving Device Which Enables Ten Men To Do The Work Of One.
Men
Liberty
Saving
Most Men Love Money And Security More, And Creation And Construction Less, As They Get Older.
Love
Money
Men
A Sound Banker, Alas, Is Not One Who Foresees Danger And Avoids It, But One Who, When He Is Ruined, Is Ruined In A Conventional Way Along With His Fellows, So That No One Can Really Blame Him.
Bankers
Sound
Investing
In The Long Run We Are All Dead.
Funny
Death
Running
Well, When I Get New Information, I Rethink My Position. What, Sir, Do You Do With New Information?
Atheism
Information
Wells
Whenever You Save Five Shillings You Put A Man Out Of Work For A Day.
Education
Laughter
Inspiration
It Is A Mistake To Think That One Limits One’s Risk By Spreading Too Much Between Enterprises About Which One Knows Little And Has No Reason For Special Confidence.
Mistake
Thinking
Risk
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.
Ideas
Ties
Errors
The Engine Which Drives Enterprise Is Not Thrift, But Profit.
Profit
Enterprise
Thrift
The Immense Accumulations Of Fixed Capital Which, To The Great Benefit Of Mankind, Were Built Up During The Half Century Before The War, Could Never Have Come About In A Society Where Wealth Was Divided Equitably.
Wisdom
War
Benefits
Obstinacy Can Bring Only A Penalty And No Reward.
Rewards
Penalties
Obstinacy
It Is The Long Term Investor Who Will In Practice Come In For The Most Criticism. For It Is The Essence Of His Behaviour That He Should Be Eccentric, Unconventional And Rash In The Eyes Of The Average Opinion. If He Is Successful, That Will Only Confirm The General Belief In His Rashness; And If In The Short Run He Is Unsuccessful, Which Is Very Likely, He Will Not Receive Much Mercy. Worldly Wisdom Teaches That It Is Better For Reputation To Fail Conventionally Than To Succeed Unconventionally.
Running
Independent
Eye
The Key To Selecting The Winner Isn't Choosing The Face You Think Is The Most Beautiful But Rather The Face Other People Will Pick
Beautiful
Thinking
Keys
It Is The Long-term Investor...who Will In Practice Come In For The Most Criticism... For It Is The Essence Of His Behavior That He Should Be Eccentric, Unconventional, And Rash In The Eyes Of Average Opinion
Eye
Average
Essence
Once Doubt Begins It Spreads Rapidly.
Doubt
Spread
If You Owe Your Bank Manager A Thousand Pounds, You Are At His Mercy. If You Owe Him A Million Pounds, He Is At Your Mercy.
Bankers
Investing
Pounds
Dangerous Acts Can Be Done Safely In A Community Which Thinks And Feels Rightly, Which Would Be The Way To Hell If They Were Executed By Those Who Think And Feel Wrongly.
Thinking
Community
Would Be
Galton's Eccentric, Sceptical, Observing, Flashing, Cavalry-leader Type Of Mind Led Him Eventually To Become The Founder Of The Most Important, Significant And, I Would Add, Genuine Branch Of Sociology Which Exists, Namely Eugenics.
Eugenics
Leader
Mind
The Love Of Money As A Possession-as Distinguished From The Love Of Money As A Means To The Enjoyments And Realities Of Life-will Be Recognized For What It Is, A Somewhat Disgusting Morbidity, One Of Those Semi-criminal, Semi-pathological Propensities Which One Hands Over With A Shudder To The Specialists In Mental Disease
Life
Mean
Reality
The Treasury Could Fill Old Bottles With Banknotes And Bury Them..and Leave It To Private Enterprises On Well-tried Principles Of Laissez-faire To Dig The Notes Up Again.
Principles
Bottles
Laissez Faire
A Conventional Valuation Which Is Established As The Outcome Of The Mass Psychology Of A Large Number Of Ignorant Individuals Is Liable To Change Violently As The Result Of A Sudden Fluctuation Of Opinion Due To Factors Which Do Not Really Make Much Difference To The Prospective Yield; Since There Will Be No Strong Roots Of Conviction To Hold It Steady.
Strong
Roots
Differences
Gold Is A Relic From A Time When Government's Were Less Trustworthy In These Matters (currency Debasement) Than They Are Now.
Philosophy
Government
Political
The Political Problem Of Mankind Is To Combine Three Things: Economic Efficiency, Social Justice And Individual Liberty.
Justice
Political
Liberty
When Somebody Persuades Me I Am Wrong, I Change My Mind.
Mind
The Friends Of Gold Will Have To Be Extremely Wise And Moderate If They Are To Avoid A Revolution.
Wise
Gold
Revolution
There Is No Harm In Being Sometimes Wrong - Especially If One Is Promptly Found Out.
Sometimes
Found
Programming
If You Owe Your Bank A Hundred Pounds, You Have A Problem. But If You Owe A Million, It Has.
Banking
Pounds
Problem
In A Regime Of Free Trade And Free Economic Intercourse It Would Be Of Little Consequence That Iron Lay On One Side Of A Political Frontier, And Labour, Coal, And Blast Furnaces On The Other. But As It Is, Men Have Devised Ways To Impoverish Themselves And One Another; And Prefer Collective Animosities To Individual Happiness.
Men
Individual Happiness
Iron
A Sound Banker, Alas, Is Not One Who Foresees Danger And Avoids It, But One Who, When He Is Ruined, Is Ruined In A Conventional And Orthodox Way Along With His Fellows, So That No One Can Really Blame Him. It Is Necessarily Part Of The Business Of A Banker To Maintain Appearances, And To Confess A Conventional Respectability, Which Is More Than Human. Life-long Practices Of This Kind Make Them The Most Romantic And The Least Realistic Of Men.
Men
Practice
Long
Adam Smith And Malthus And Ricardo ! There Is Something About These Three Figures To Evoke More Than Ordinary Sentiments From Us Their Children In The Spirit.
Children
Ordinary
Three
Most, Probably, Of Our Decisions To Do Something Positive, The Full Consequences Of Which Will Be Drawn Out Over Many Days To Come, Can Only Be Taken As The Result Of Animal Spirits-a Spontaneous Urge To Action Rather Than Inaction, And Not As The Outcome Of A Weighted Average Of Quantitative Benefits Multiplied By Quantitative Probabilities.
Taken
Animal
Average
Ideas, Knowledge, Art, Hospitality, Travel - These Are Things Which Should In Their Nature Be International. But Let Goods Be Homespun Whenever It Is Reasonably And Conveniently Possible And Above All Let Finance Be Primarily National.
Letting Go
Art
Business
For My Own Part, I Believe That There Is Social And Psychological Justification For Significant Inequalities Of Incomes And Wealth.
Wisdom
Believe
Income
The Right Remedy For The Trade Cycle Is Not To Be Found In Abolishing Booms And Thus Keeping Us Permanently In A Semi-slump; But In Abolishing Slumps And Thus Keeping Us Permanently In A Quasi-boom.
Business
Slumps
Found
It Is A Good Thing To Make Mistakes So Long As You're Found Out Quickly.
Mistake
Long
Good Things
God Has Arrived. I Met Him On The 5:15 Train.
Mets
Train
The Markets Are Moved By Animal Spirits, And Not By Reason.
Animal
Spirit
Reason
To Suppose That Safety-first Consists In Having A Small Gamble In A Large Number Of Different Companies Where I Have No Information To Reach A Good Judgment, As Compared With A Substantial Stake In A Company Where One's Information Is Adequate, Strikes Me As A Travesty Of Investment Policy.
Numbers
Safety
Different
How Long Will It Be Necessary To Pay City Men So Entirely Out Of Proportion To What Other Servants Of Society Commonly Receive For Performing Social Services Not Less Useful Or Difficult?
Men
Cities
Long
To Suggest Social Action For The Public Good To The City London Is Like Discussing The Origin Of Species To A Bishop Sixty Years Ago.
Years
Cities
Bishops
The Important Thing For Government Is Not To Do Things Which Individuals Are Doing Already, And To Do Them A Little Better Or A Little Worse; But To Do Those Things Which At Present Are Not Done At All.
Government
Important
Done
If Economists Could Manage To Get Themselves Thought Of As Humble, Competent People On A Level With Dentists, That Would Be Splendid.
Humble
People
Would Be
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


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