[Gross national product] measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Economic metrics like GNP count material output but ignore intangible qualities that make life meaningful.
- In plain terms
- Gross national product counts money but not happiness or quality of life.
- What can you take from it?
- Economic growth does not equal human well-being.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What values should we measure instead of money?
- Does wealth always correlate with happiness?
Another view
GNP remains useful for tracking industrial output and trade flows.
More from Robert Kennedy
First is the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery, agai…
Permalink to quote #7 Every dictatorship has ultimately strangled in the web of repression it wove for its people, making mistakes that could not be corrected because criticism was …
Permalink to quote #9 Our answer is the world's hope; it is to rely on youth. The cruelties and the obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and o…
Permalink to quote #6
Related quotes
[Gross national product] measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.
Robert F. KennedyRobert F. Kennedy quote #8 Our gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the bea…
Robert F. KennedyRobert F. Kennedy quote #58 'Happiness is obsolete: uneconomic.'
Theodor AdornoTheodor Adorno quote #31