In a lot of macroeconomics, “not obviously wrong” is serious praise.

It is true that a mathematician who is not also something of a poet will never be a perfect mathematician.

Trust me, I know what I’m doing.

Why did we spend years and years on the silly discussion of whether chess is an art, a sport or a science? Why dit it take us so long to discover that it’s a way of life?

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 intellectual influences, 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.