And Friedrich von Schiller wrote “He that is overcautious will accomplish little”.1 Now, in general, central bankers are not known for their boldness or love of risk, and I would claim that there are some good reasons for this.
So – as a cautious central banker - I was very happy to find that at least the Greek dramatist Sophocles displayed a more balanced attitude towards risk when he warned that “Quick decisions are unsafe decisions”. There is no need to explain to this audience that central banks face many forms of risk when taking monetary policy decisions.