Commencement oratory must eschew anything that smacks of partisan politics, political preference, sex, religion or unduly firm opinion. Nonetheless, there must be a speech: Speeches in our culture are the vacuum that fills a vacuum.

Quote by John Kenneth Galbraith

Topics: Politics Quotes

There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When...

There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When...

It is a commonplace of modern technology that problems have solutions before there is knowledge...

It is a commonplace of modern technology that problems have solutions before there is knowledge...

The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.

The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.

A bad book is the worse that it cannot repent. It has not been the...

A bad book is the worse that it cannot repent. It has not been the...

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous...

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous...

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen...

One of the little-celebrated powers of Presidents (and other high government officials) is to listen...

There is an insistent tendency among serious social scientists to think of any institution which...

There is an insistent tendency among serious social scientists to think of any institution which...

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority...

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority...

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the...

If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the...

War remains the decisive human failure.

War remains the decisive human failure.

There's a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a...

There's a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a...

The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.

The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.

We all agree that pessimism is a mark of superior intellect.

We all agree that pessimism is a mark of superior intellect.

There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When...

There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When...

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.

Food - taken to support life Wine - taken to enrichen life Food and Wine...

Food - taken to support life Wine - taken to enrichen life Food and Wine...

Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.

Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.

When you get to fifty-two food becomes more important than sex.

When you get to fifty-two food becomes more important than sex.