Shankar Jaganathan > Quotes

“He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building. – Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“The idea that any historical analysis is entirely objective is flawed. A writer is by no means free or without prejudice and an awareness of one’s own preconceived notions is perhaps the first semblance of objectivity. Furthermore,”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“In most early human societies, concern for the afterlife was a primary motive. The guiding principle, as William Paley, the eighteenth-century philosopher, put it was, ‘the hope of heaven and the fear of hell’.20”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“It is the story that matters, not just the ending.’ – Paul Lockhart”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“The three main concepts – private property, social sanction for selfcentred individualism and a materialistic outlook – are marked as the key features that elevated economics to its current dominant status.”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“The balance between individual responsibility and social duty for the wellbeing of the vulnerable sections of society, especially the children, the aged, the sick and the unemployed is the second challenge. The”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“Adam Smith’s doctrine of self-interest shook the foundation of Utopian ideas that had prized altruism for thousands of years. In”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“interesting paradox of the disconnect between price and value. The”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“Economics no longer deals with technical issues that touch the periphery of our lives, and that can be left to the sole care of specialists. By impacting human life in multiple ways and at multiple points, I think economics has come into the popular domain uninvited. Given its entry, I believe every individual has an obligation to think for themselves and contribute to setting a basic economic agenda for their society.”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“A few individuals sensitive to these changes questioned the ability of markets and private property to erase these social problems, leading to Socialism, a new school of thought. With socialism as the leitmotif, many ideas mushroomed in response to largescale human misery. Socialism soon”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“So, even on economic issues, we must take up this responsibility of thinking and forming our own views, and not ‘outsource’ it to the professional economists. This is not to say that amateurs (like me) should be deciding the mechanics of the economic system or driving it. But as interested and affected parties we definitely have the right, if not the duty to set the charter for the economics professionals.”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“Garry Becker, the Nobel laureate, said, ‘“Economic imperialism” is probably a good description of what I do.’ This comment was in the context of his work on examining issues like marriage and the decision to have children using an economic lens. By equating the decision to have children with buying consumer durables, he imperialistically expanded the domain of economics by shrinking the scope of other social sciences.”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants

“think forming our own views, and not borrowing those of others is at the core of creating a thinking society, which in turn is at the core of creating a better society. So,”
― Shankar Jaganathan, The Wisdom of Ants