Economist in the words of Keynes

Hello,

In my first book of economics, there was a paragraph by John Maynard Keynes describing about what a good economist be like.

The study of economics does not seem to require any specialized gifts of an unusually high order. Is it not, intellectually regarded, a very easy subject compared with the higher branches of philosophy or pure science? An easy subject at which few excel! The paradox finds its explanation, perhaps, in that the master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part of man’s nature of his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near to earth as a politician.  (J. M. Keynes. 1924. "Alfred Marshall,  1842-1924" in The Economic Journal)

I find the above paragraph very inspiriting and read it often. I hope you find it useful too, it list some rare set of skills to work on. 

Adios! :D