The Economist > Quotes

“A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read ‘The Lost Symbol’, by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.”
― The Economist

“Books educate people and educated people ask awkward questions of those who govern them. The educated, in short, are considered ungovernable. Better to keep people ignorant of the past and to concentrate their minds on the utopia that lies ahead.”
― The Economist

“An oft-quoted statistic from the [United Nations] reports is that the amount of literature translated into Spanish in a single year exceeds the entire corpus of what has been translated into Arabic in 1,000 years.”
― The Economist

“But that is the strange thing about the future. Nothing ages faster than yesterday’s dreams of tomorrow.”
― The Economist

“Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible.”
― The Economist, Style Guide

“Don't be too didactic. Your writing shouldn't teach someone, your story should.”
― The Economist

“Nobody needs to be described as silly: let your analysis show that he is.”
― The Economist, Style Guide

“Foreignness is intrinsically stimulating. Like a good game of bridge, the condition of being foreign engages the mind constantly without ever tiring it.”…
…“But we cannot expect to have it all ways. Life is full of choices, and to choose one thing is to forgo another. The dilemma of foreignness comes down to one of liberty versus fraternity—the pleasures of freedom versus the pleasures of belonging. The homebody chooses the pleasures of belonging. The foreigner chooses the pleasures of freedom, and the pains that go with them.”
― Being foreign: The others—the Economist

“IN THE room of Mashal Khan, a student at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, a dusty town in north-west Pakistan, the late occupant’s handwriting is on almost every surface. Some of his scribblings in felt-tip pen are banal (“You beauty”) or crude (“Get your burger-flipping ass outta here”). But many hint at an idealistic and fiercely independent young mind: “Freedom is the right of every individual” and “Be crazy, curious and mad!” These were injunctions that Mr Khan, a journalism student, upheld—and that got him killed.”
― The Economist

“Convert any common fraction to a decimal fraction by dividing the lower number (denominator) into the upper number (numerator). For example, ¾ = 3 + 4 = 0.75. The result is also known as a proportion. Multiply it by 100 to convert it into a percentage. Recognition”
― The Economist, Numbers Guide: The Essentials of Business Numeracy

“For now, tribal instincts backed by institutional machinery, still prop up the old split'.”
― The Economist