It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought. - John Kenneth Galbraith

The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the US is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems.

In recent times no problem has been more puzzling to thoughtful people than why, in a troubled world, we make such poor use of our affluence.

As protection against financial illusion or insanity, memory is far better than laws...For protecting people from the cupidity of others and their own, history is highly utilitarian. It sustains memory, and memory serves the same purpose as the SEC, and on the record is far more effective