John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes

We citizens of the affluent countries tend to discuss our obligations toward the distant needy mainly in terms of donations and transfers, assistance and redistribution: How much of our wealth, if any, should we give away to the hungry abroad?

The argument of socialists, that people really want to share, beyond a reasonable level of charity, is rubbish, though it is espoused by a lot of rich, pious hypocrites who want to share only enough to avoid widespread starvation, mob violence, and government seizure of more of their incomes.

Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.

Mankind deserves sacrifice - but not of mankind.

Compassion has no place in the natural order of the world which operates on the basis of necessity. Compassion opposes this order and is therefore best thought of as being in some way supernatural.

Love is a piano dropped from a fourth story window, and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There are no journalistic ethics that transcend the value of human life. There are none. In a situation where you can save a human life, you must. There isn't any conflict in my mind.

There's nothing wrong with the free-enterprise system. But it has to have some compassion.

Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel.

Everyone who wants to do good to the human race always ends in universal bullying.

Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal.

Saving lives is the top morality.

I'm a liberal when it comes to human rights, the poor; so's George W. Bush.... But liberal and conservative don't mean much to me anymore. Does that mean we care about people and are interested and want to help? And if that makes you a liberal, so be it.

I hold that all war is morally wrong and its prosecution a crime. I hold life as sacred and cannot bring myself to join in the slaughter of my fellow men.

What I am interested in is to help this grand President of ours feed the hungry and clothe the naked and provide work for the idle of every race and creed

I free slaves because I believe we are all created equal. I just can't think of anything that has a higher purpose than putting value on human life.

The intent of sincere humanitarians is to do good to society, just as the intent of the child who kills a bird by to much fondling is to do good to the bird.

It is important not to allow ourselves to be put off by the magnitude of others' suffering. The misery of millions is not a cause for pity. Rather it is a cause for compassion.

For me, humanitarian service, or rather service of all that lives, is religion. And I draw no distinction between such religion and politics.

Cruelty, I truly believe, is the one and only sin.

Is there anything more true than human pain? Is there anything more sincere than the cry for help from those who suffer? Only a great wave of mankind's pity can surmount an immense wave of human misery?

The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man; insomuch, that if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living creatures; as it is seen in the Turks, cruel people, who, nevertheless, are kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds.

The essence of all religions is love, compassion and tolerance. Kindness is my true religion. No matter whether you are learned or not, whether you believe in the next life or not, whether you believe in God or Buddha or some other religion or not, in day-to-day life you must be a kind person.

I have spent a lot of my life trying to do good and be a humanitarian, to write about difficult places, and to tell the story of oppressed peoples.

I advance in life, I grow more simple, and I become more and more patriotic for humanity.