The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones
 John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936). copy citation

Context

“The composition of this book has been for the author a long struggle of escape, and so must the reading of it be for most readers if the author's assault upon them is to be successful,¾a struggle of escape from habitual modes of thought and expression. The ideas which are here expressed so laboriously are extremely simple and should be obvious. The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.
J.M. KEYNES 13 December 1935 PREFACE TO THE GERMAN EDITION Alfred Marshall, on whose Principles of Economics all contemporary English economists have been brought up, was at particular pains to emphasise the continuity of his thought with Ricardo's.” source

Meaning and analysis

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