John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes

People like Bill Maher, who brags about being a cynic, it sickens me. I am the least cynical person I know, and I am very, very skeptical.

As we get older - perhaps I'm just speaking for myself - we can get too cynical.

Do not let yourself be tainted with a barren skepticism.

You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man.

Intellectuals are too sentimental for me.

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.

The will to be stupid is a very powerful force, but there are always alternatives.

That which exercises reason is more excellent than that which does not exercise reason

My stepdad always said, "If you're going to believe the good, you're going to believe the bad." I think that's really important.

How can people be so stupid? I marvel at that. See, I think you have to work as being ignorant - and if you're gonna work at being ignorant, why not work at being informed?

One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence.

I am not an idiot, and I'm not a Pollyanna sort of kumbaya type.

I try not to be overly analytical.

If there's one thing that makes me cynical, it's optimists. They are just far too cynical about cynicism. If only they could see that cynics can be happy, constructive, even fun to hang out with, they might learn a thing or two.

Cynicism is the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence.

I think sometimes we seem to obsess on negativity.

Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality. I'm a realist.

Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.

I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.

Balance in life is the key, as Aristotle taught us. Nobody likes a naive Pollyanna, but neither do we like to be around people who are constantly complaining and finding fault.

In a bubble, anyone who argues pessimistically is seen as crazy.

Intellectuals are people who believe that ideas are of more importance than values. That is to say, their own ideas and other people's values.

I am not a big fan of positive thinking. The term suggests that there is something negative that you have to counteract by being positive. That is an artificial duality.

I've never professed to be an intellectual. I don't try to be.