“One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.”
Walter Bagehot (1826–1877) British journalist, businessman, and essayist
Source: Physics and Politics https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4350 (1869), Ch. 5, The Age of Discussion
“If Walter Bagehot was right that “one of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea,” Ken caused an extraordinary amount of pain. Both in his economic thinking and in his political activities, he was dedicated to resisting, and where possible overturning, what he famously called “conventional wisdom” (one of his many turns of phrase that have since become commonplace locutions). Rejecting the standard economic theory based on small, anonymous households and firms that autonomously engage in perfectly functioning markets, Ken instead saw an economic stage dominated by large, nameable actors: big business, big labor, big government. Sorting out their roles and respective power was central to his analysis, and the continually shifting tensions in the interplay among them—“countervailing power” in another of his deft phrases—was the real story of how an economy behaved.”
Stephen A. Marglin, Richard Parker, Amartya Sen, and Benjamin M. Friedman, “John Kenneth Galbraith”, Harvard Gazette (February 7, 2008)
2000s
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "If Walter Bagehot was right that “one of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea,” Ken caused an e…" by Amartya Sen?
Amartya Sen31
Indian economist 1933Related quotes
William Stanley Jevons The Theory of Political Economy
Source: The Theory of Political Economy (1871), Chapter I, Introduction, p. 51.
William Stanley Jevons The Theory of Political Economy
Source: The Theory of Political Economy (1871), Chapter III, Theory of Utility, p. 61.
Michael Moorcock (1939) English writer, editor, critic
“It is all that Heaven demands,” she said.
Source: The von Bek family, The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981), Chapter 16 (p. 158)
Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet
Entra una nueva pena y las viejas penas de la casa la reciben calladas, no muertas.
Voces (1943)
Amartya Sen (1933) Indian economist
2004
Stephen A. Marglin, Richard Parker, Amartya Sen, and Benjamin M. Friedman, “John Kenneth Galbraith”, Harvard Gazette (February 7, 2008)
2000s
Russell Jacoby (1945) American historian
Source: The End of Utopia (1999), p. 27
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
The Philosophy of Paine (1925)
Context: I consider Paine our greatest political thinker. As we have not advanced, and perhaps never shall advance, beyond the Declaration and Constitution, so Paine has had no successors who extended his principles. Although the present generation knows little of Paine's writings, and although he has almost no influence upon contemporary thought, Americans of the future will justly appraise his work. I am certain of it.
Truth is governed by natural laws and cannot be denied. Paine spoke truth with a peculiarly clear and forceful ring. Therefore time must balance the scales.