Have you ever wondered where a vigorously asserted point of view comes from?
Economist J.M. Keynes suggests where to start looking. The full quote from Bartleby.com, is below.
But first, the short form, which is sometimes altered:
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.
For further reference:
| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
| NUMBER: | 32525 |
| QUOTATION: | 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. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), British economist. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, ch. 24 (1936). The economist James M. Buchanan commented, “Why does Camelot lie in ruins? Intellectual error of monumental proportion has been made, and not exclusively by the politicians. Error also lies squarely with the economists. The ‘academic scribbler’ who must bear substantial responsibility is Lord Keynes ...” (The Consequences of Keynes, written with Richard E. Wagner and John Burton, 1978). |
| The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |