Letter to Kingsley Martin during the Czech Crisis (26 August 1938), quoted in Kingsley Martin, Editor: A Second Volume of Autobiography, 1931–45 (1968), p. 267

In a world war Hitler will be beaten and knows it. I agree with you that we should bluff to the hilt; and if the bluff is called, back out. I prefer, meanwhile, meiosis and bogus optimism in public.

— John Maynard Keynes

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "In a world war Hitler will be beaten and knows it. I agree with you that we should bluff to the hilt; and if the bluff is called, back out. I prefer, meanwhile, meiosis and bogus optimism in public." in the context of "Letter to Kingsley Martin during the Czech Crisis (26 August 1938), quoted in Kingsley Martin, Editor: A Second Volume of Autobiography, 1931–45 (1968), p. 267" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "John Maynard Keynes" (Quotes, 1930s) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John Maynard Keynes

About John Maynard Keynes

John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes of Tilton (5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946) was a British economist whose ideas, known as Keynesian economics, had a major impact on modern economic and political theory and on many governments' fiscal policies.