Quotes Pertaining to Economics

Courtesy of the always exceptional commentary at Marginal Revolution:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/05/textbook-contest.html


"Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them." ~ Albert Einstein

"There are no solutions, there are only trade-offs." ~ Thomas Sowell

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." ~ Albert Einstein, Sidelights on Relativity

"He tried to read an elementary economics text; it bored him past endurance, it was like listening to someone interminably recounting a long and stupid dream." ~ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." ~ JM Keynes

"Economics is really about understanding the world -- and changing it -- and not in a messianic fashion but in an honest fashion." ~ James Heckman

"Trade is the natural enemy of all violent passions. Trade loves moderation, delights in compromise, and is most careful to avoid anger. It is patient, supple, and insinuating, only resorting to extreme measures in cases of absolute necessity. Trade makes men independent of one another and gives them a high idea of their personal importance: it leads them to want to manage their own affairs and teaches them to succeed therein. Hence it makes them inclined to liberty but disinclined to revolution." ~ Alexis De Tocqueville

"Never appeal to a man’s ‘better nature.’ He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage." ~ Robert Heinlein

"An economist's guess is liable to be just as good as anybody else's." ~ Will Rogers

"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow" ~ Aesop

"When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice." ~ William James

"Maybe the main function of economics in general is not, as we usually think, the systematic building of theories and models, or their empirical estimation. Maybe we are intellectual sanitation workers. The world is full of nonsense, full of things people and institutions know that 'ain't so.' Maybe the higher function of economics is to hold out against nonsense." ~ Robert Solow

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." ~ Friedrich Hayek

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." ~ Adam Smith

"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." ~ Wimpy from Popeye