“ We cannot as reasonable men do better than base our policy on the evidence we have and adapt it to the five or ten years over which we may suppose ourselves to have some measure of prevision; and we are not at fault if we leave on one side the extreme chances of human existence and of revolutionary changes in the order of Nature or of man's relations to her. ”
John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919). copy citation
| Author | John Maynard Keynes |
|---|---|
| Source | The Economic Consequences of the Peace |
| Topic | change existence |
| Date | 1919 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15776/15776-h/15776-h.htm |
Context
“We cannot expect to legislate for a generation or more. The secular changes in man's economic condition and the liability of human forecast to error are as likely to lead to mistake in one direction as in another. We cannot as reasonable men do better than base our policy on the evidence we have and adapt it to the five or ten years over which we may suppose ourselves to have some measure of prevision; and we are not at fault if we leave on one side the extreme chances of human existence and of revolutionary changes in the order of Nature or of man's relations to her. The fact that we have no adequate knowledge of Germany's capacity to pay over a long period of years is no justification (as I have heard some people claim that, it is) for the statement that she can pay $50,000,000,000.”
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