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, Speech Quotes

The Metropolis should have been aborted long before it became New York, London or Tokyo.

The Metropolis should have been aborted long before it became New York, London or Tokyo.

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...

The commencement speech is not, I think, a wholly satisfactory manifestation of our culture.

The commencement speech is not, I think, a wholly satisfactory manifestation of our culture.

In economics, the majority is always wrong.

In economics, the majority is always wrong.

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...

You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does...

You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does...

Few people at the beginning of the nineteenth century needed an adman to tell them...

Few people at the beginning of the nineteenth century needed an adman to tell them...

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...

The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the...

The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the...

War remains the decisive human failure.

War remains the decisive human failure.

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 great dialectic in our time is not, as anciently and by some still supposed,...

The great dialectic in our time is not, as anciently and by some still supposed,...

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...

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...

When people put their ballots in the boxes, they are, by that act, inoculated against...

When people put their ballots in the boxes, they are, by that act, inoculated against...

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.

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

How many disasters do we need to unite humanity

How many disasters do we need to unite humanity

If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come...

If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come...

What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what...

What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what...