"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 influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who are influenced by new theories after they are twenty-five or thirty years of age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Ch. 24 "Concluding Notes" p. 383-384
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ideas
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ideas
67 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ideas →
Related Quotes
"An idea starts to be interesting when you get scared of taking it to its logical conclusion."
"To say that everything is idea or that everything is spirit, is the same as saying that everything is matter or that …"
"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?"
"“Our ideas” are only partly our ideas. Most of our ideas are abbreviations or residues of the thought of other people…"
"The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily ta…"
"Universal Peace, assuming it to be in the fullest sense realizable, might not require eons for its accomplishment, ho…"
"What is important is not the ideas themselves, but the context in which they operate."
"In the brain model proposed here, the causal potency of an idea, or an ideal, becomes just as real as that of a molec…"
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."
"There is no tyranny in the world more hateful than that of ideas. Ideas bring ideophobia, and the consequence is that…"