The outstanding ground for cheerfulness

"The outstanding ground for cheerfulness lies, I think, in this -- that the system has shown already its capacity to stand an almost inconceivable strain. If anyone had prophesied to us a year or two ago the actual state of affairs which exists to-day, could we have believed that the world could continue to maintain even that degree of normality which we actually have? This remarkable capacity of the system to take punishment is the best reason for hoping that we still have time to rally the constructive forces of the world."

Yet one more remarkable piece of writing by J. M. Keynes.

Found at Richard's Real Estate and Urban Economics Blog; he found it on Brad Delong’s blog, and Brad found it in The Atlantic’s archives.