Albert J. Hettinger Jr. reported related words in 1963, recalling Keynes at a 1931 meeting but explicitly disclaiming exact phrasing. Quote Investigator finds the disastrous wording in 1967; the attribution remains weak.
“There Is Nothing So Disastrous As a Rational Investment Policy In an Irrational World” — John Maynard Keynes
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Provenance
The source
Documented source
Director’s Comment in A Monetary History of the United States; later variants
Date
1963
rational investment policy
A short excerpt from the linked source, not a replacement for the full quotation above.
Albert J. Hettinger Jr. reported related words in 1963, recalling Keynes at a 1931 meeting but explicitly disclaiming exact phrasing. Quote Investigator finds the disastrous wording in 1967; the attribution remains weak. Read the source
The popular wording and its precise original source remain unsettled; no public-domain claim is made.
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Fact-check
Often misattributed
The 1931 date describes a later recollection. It is not evidence that this exact sentence survives in a 1931 transcript.
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What the evidence establishesJohn Maynard Keynes Context
Albert J. Hettinger Jr. reported related words in 1963, recalling Keynes at a 1931 meeting but explicitly disclaiming exact phrasing. Quote Investigator finds the disastrous wording in 1967; the attribution remains weak. Check the evidence
✓The 1931 date describes a later recollection. It is not evidence that this exact sentence survives in a 1931 transcript. Read the research
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Keynes is the person to whom Hettinger assigned the remembered remark. Hettinger is its later transmitter, not established as the aphorism’s author.
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The primary source (Chicago)
Director’s Comment in A Monetary History of the United States; later variants. 1963. Evidence and bibliographical details reproduced in the linked source; no independent access to an original edition is claimed unless stated.
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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘There Is Nothing So Disastrous As a Rational Investment Policy In an Irrational World’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/there-is-nothing-so-disastrous-as-a-rational-investment/