“The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: economic efficiency, social justice and individual liberty.”

Like all his type, Newton was wholly aloof from women.

I was suffering from my chronic delusion that one good share is safer than ten bad ones, and I am always forgetting that hardly anyone else shares this particular delusion.

The forces of the nineteenth century have run their course and are exhausted.

What an extraordinary episode in the economic progress of man that age was which came to an end in August, 1914!

Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own.

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.

I wasn’t ever advised by Scott Sullivan of anything ever being wrong.

I was a pretty good coach and working with marketing was like coaching.

I have some assets that over time will be worth something. I’ve been in the process of selling others.

We were a fast-growing company, and I was a demanding boss.

I didn’t have anything to apologize for.

Although low inflation is generally good, inflation that is too low can pose risks to the economy – especially when the economy is struggling.

The financial crisis appears to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is expanding again.

We do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy or to the financial system.