Amity Shlaes Quotes

Powerful Amity Shlaes for Daily Growth

About Amity Shlaes

Amity Shlaes is an influential American historian, author, and columnist known for her insightful analysis on economic issues. Born on June 17, 1954, in New York City, she grew up amidst the rich cultural and intellectual milieu of Manhattan's Upper West Side. Shlaes attended the Dalton School before graduating from Harvard University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature. Her academic journey continued at Balliol College, Oxford, where she was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, one of the most prestigious international scholarships for postgraduate study. In her early career, Shlaes worked as an assistant to George Will and served as a White House speechwriter under President Ronald Reagan. These experiences provided her with a unique perspective on American politics and economics that would later shape her work. Shlaes gained prominence with the publication of her first book, 'The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression' (2007). This groundbreaking work reinterpreted the causes and effects of the Great Depression, arguing that Hoover's policies exacerbated the crisis rather than alleviating it. Her subsequent works include 'Coolidge' (2013), a biography of President Calvin Coolidge that emphasizes his role in restoring economic prosperity after World War I, and 'The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality' (2017), which explores the historical factors behind rising inequality in America. In addition to her books, Shlaes has been a regular contributor to various publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. She is also a contributing editor at City Journal and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Amity Shlaes continues to be an influential voice in contemporary debates about American history, economics, and politics, offering fresh perspectives grounded in meticulous research and keen insight.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Capitalism is not a system that rewards success; it is a system that allows success."

This quote suggests that capitalism, as an economic system, does not inherently reward or bestow success; rather, it provides the freedom, structure, and opportunities for individuals to achieve success through their own efforts, skills, and innovations. In other words, the system itself does not guarantee success, but it creates an environment where success can be attained by those who seize opportunities and apply their talents effectively.


"Innovation, not regulation, has always been the engine of prosperity."

This quote by Amity Shlaes emphasizes that innovation, rather than regulation, is the primary driving force behind prosperity. In other words, she suggests that economic growth and advancement are primarily achieved through new ideas, technologies, products, or services, not through government control or restriction. The implication is that fostering a culture of innovation, encouraging entrepreneurship, and minimizing excessive regulations can contribute significantly to a nation's economic success.


"Capitalism is the only economic system in which the more you make the more you can afford to lose."

This quote by Amity Shlaes suggests that capitalism encourages risk-taking, as individuals who have accumulated wealth can afford to invest it with the potential for both gain and loss. The inherent risk-reward dynamic in capitalism is what propels innovation, growth, and economic progress. However, this system also highlights the importance of balance, ensuring that those who lose in the process don't suffer catastrophic consequences, thus maintaining fairness and social stability.


"It's not the size of government that matters, but what it does with its power."

This quote by Amity Shlaes emphasizes that the effectiveness and impact of government, rather than its size, is crucial. It suggests that a smaller government may not necessarily be better if it wields power ineffectively or unproductively, while a larger government could potentially achieve positive outcomes if it uses its power responsibly and efficiently for the benefit of society. The focus should be on how government utilizes its power to serve the people, rather than merely on the quantity of that power.


"The best way to predict the future is to create it." (This quote was originally said by Peter Drucker, but often misattributed to Amity Shlaes.)

This quote emphasizes that instead of passively waiting for the future to unfold, we should actively shape it according to our desires and aspirations. It suggests that one can predict the future more accurately by taking proactive steps to create it, rather than relying solely on predictions or speculations. Essentially, it encourages people to be agents of change in their own lives and society at large.


With demands for special education or standardized test prep being shouted in their ears, public schools can't always hear a parent when he says: 'I want my child to be able to write contracts in Spanish,' or, 'I want my child to shake hands firmly,' or, 'I want my child to study statistics and accounting, not calculus.'

- Amity Shlaes

Parent, Study, Firmly, Ears

We're in a kind of vicious cycle where the media tell the politicians, and the politicians tell the people, that perception is reality, and the perception of saving dooms a politician. I don't believe perception is reality, or that all Americans think that.

- Amity Shlaes

Think, Kind, All Americans, Vicious

Many writers, including myself, have detailed how irresponsible government actions slow economic recoveries. Similar behavior by individuals impedes growth, too. If you can't find someone reliable to do a deal with, you simply don't do the deal at all.

- Amity Shlaes

How, Deal, Individuals, Irresponsible

McCain likes strong defense, and he's viscerally suspicious of big companies. So he's more a Square Deal guy than a New Deal guy.

- Amity Shlaes

Strong, New, Big, Big Companies

There's something unsettling about the education of a child who comfortably enumerates the rules for surviving zombie apocalypse but finds it uncomfortable to enumerate the rules of his grandparents' faith, if he knows them.

- Amity Shlaes

Education, Grandparents, Apocalypse

The phrase 'perception is reality' is overused generally. But perception can be reality in monetary policy. The bond market doesn't act merely on what it sees. It acts on what it expects of the Fed or the government.

- Amity Shlaes

Monetary, Fed, Acts, Overused

In the end, all new schools, public or private, snobby or not, add value to the education market, making it bigger and more efficient, in the same way that Zuckerberg added wealth to the economy even for non-Facebook fans.

- Amity Shlaes

Education, Private, Added, Snobby

People value Halloween, like Valentine's Day, because they can tell themselves that it's not merely secularized but actually secular, which is to say, not Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim.

- Amity Shlaes

Like, Muslim, Which, Valentine

The Grand Old Party's abiding affection for a 'bigger and better' presidency isn't entirely logical. After all, the Obama presidency commenced with an effort to reenact the Hundred Days. Yet President Obama's first-term economic performance itself was not 'big' but mediocre - tiny, even.

- Amity Shlaes

Big, Hundred, Obama, Abide

When you do something moral and upright and wander off by yourself, well, everyone doesn't always follow you, do they, right? You pat yourself on your sanctimonious back but it doesn't mean the crowd rewards you for doing what you think is right.

- Amity Shlaes

Think, Always, Pat, Wander

Entitlements seem to grow with prosperity; not only because they are indexed to inflation or GDP, but also because a prosperous country tells itself it can afford more benefits.

- Amity Shlaes

Grow, Country, Benefits, Entitlement

To investors, job creation is a second-order effect. Market participants care first about interest rates, exchange rates, bond prices and the one great factor that affects all three: the long-term solvency of a bond company called the U.S. government.

- Amity Shlaes

Three, About, Interest Rates, Factor

FDR's job results were, to put it politely, disturbing.

- Amity Shlaes

Disturbing, Were, Politely, FDR

If you do a serious presidential bio, you want to supply the reader with maximum material because otherwise you're offending the reader. A president for many people is a serious thing and they want to know everything.

- Amity Shlaes

Otherwise, Offending, Reader, Presidential

Democrats who see virtue in the estate tax are doing the equivalent of aborting future enterprises. They deprive businesses of oxygen with their support for capital gains taxes and disregard for contracts.

- Amity Shlaes

Doing, Capital, Equivalent, Estate Tax

When you see government leaders really bullying business, you know that government's economic policy is failing. They get angry and they get desperate.

- Amity Shlaes

Business, Desperate, Leaders, Economic

What's wrong with the auto industry isn't that it failed to create jobs. What's wrong is that it emphasizes jobs over general growth itself.

- Amity Shlaes

Over, Jobs, Auto, Auto Industry

Coolidge believed that government officials who tell themselves that spending benefits the economy delude themselves and the citizens. Government budgets promote human freedom.

- Amity Shlaes

Tell, Benefits, Economy, Delude

Seems like Americans just want it to be Halloween all year. The holiday just keeps getting more popular.

- Amity Shlaes

Year, More, Like, All Year

Grades can matter, especially for those students and parents who live for the next round of applications to graduate or professional schools. But there's a problem with the grade emphasis. Math or science graduates earn more than students majoring in the humanities.

- Amity Shlaes

Students, Next, Graduates, Humanities

Europe unified its monetary policy through the euro before it unified politically, therefore sustaining member countries' abilities to pursue the kind of independent fiscal policies that can strain a joint currency.

- Amity Shlaes

Through, Strain, Sustaining, Unified

Politicians generally act as if there is no cost to reconnecting with voters by building new New Deals. But the whole exercise of writing law out of New Deal nostalgia is a form of national narcissism. Call it New Deal narcissism.

- Amity Shlaes

Nostalgia, New, Deal, Narcissism

I think some authors suffer from a need to try to prove that they're clever and educated. I try not to suffer from that. I would rather sacrifice my own narrative in the exercise of writing a biography. So I'm not worried about whether I'm clever.

- Amity Shlaes

Some, Prove, I Think, Authors

The result of the collaborative culture is that corporations or government institutions focus intensely on internal culture and pour their energy into achieving minuscule policy changes relating to workplace efficiency, gender or race.

- Amity Shlaes

Efficiency, Gender, Internal, Corporations

I'm always for lower taxes because lower taxes make people want to do things. Less burden, more fun, and economics is about people wanting to have fun. Growth is fun for people in the marketplace.

- Amity Shlaes

Always, Wanting, Marketplace, Lower Taxes

The donning of the ear buds marks the beginning of teen life, when children set off on their own for the passage through adolescence.

- Amity Shlaes

Beginning, Through, Set, Marks

Prices don't merely reflect what people think things ought to cost today; they also reflect what people expect items to cost tomorrow.

- Amity Shlaes

Tomorrow, Think, Cost, Ought

Anti-parent music seems to be all the pop-rock market wants.

- Amity Shlaes

Music, Market, Wants, Pop-Rock

By playing on people's desire to belong to groups, Facebook creates a new, inclusive society. After all, Facebook is not like Harvard College. Anyone with access to the Internet can sign up.

- Amity Shlaes

College, New, Inclusive, Harvard

The most remarkable thing about Calvin Coolidge is that he served for 67 months, and when he left office, the budget was lower than he came in. In real terms - in nominal terms with vanilla on top - he cut the budget year over year.

- Amity Shlaes

Year, Cut, About, Nominal

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