“I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas.”

I believe myself to be writing a book on economic theory which will largely revolutionize – not, I suppose, at once but in the course of the next ten years – the way the world thinks about economic problems.

The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.

The central principle of investment is to go contrary to the general opinion, on the grounds that if everyone agreed about its merits, the investment is inevitably too dear and therefore unattractive.

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.

Ideas shape the course of history.

As time goes on, I get more and more convinced that the right method of investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one thinks one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes.

The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.

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.

Obstinacy can bring only a penalty and no reward.

It is astonishing what foolish things one can temporarily believe if one thinks too long alone, particularly in economics.

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.

The love of money as a possession. Will be recognised for what it is, a somewhat disgusting morbidity.

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.

The markets are moved by animal spirits, and not by reason.

There is no intrinsic reason for the scarcity of capital.

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.