WIST Quotations

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 1 (1907)

Dave — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 16:20:14 +0000

Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 1 (1907)

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 1 (1907)

Dave — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 04:01:09 +0000

Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, had always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 1 (1907)

Restated by George Will in saying that the value of political parties was that "They organize our animosities." Interview, The Colbert Report (3 Jun 2008) at 6:43.

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 16 (1907)

Dave — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 03:05:43 +0000

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 16 (1907)

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 21 (1907)

Dave — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 13:49:35 +0000

The object of education for that mind should be the teaching itself how to react with vigor and economy. No doubt the world at large will always lag so far behind the active mind as to make a soft cushion of inertia to drop upon, as it did for Henry Adams; but education should try to lessen the obstacles, diminish the friction, invigorate the energy, and should train minds to react, not at haphazard, but by choice, on the lines of force that attract their world. What one knows is, in youth, of little moment; they know enough who know how to learn.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 21 (1907)
(Source)

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 22 (1907)

Dave — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 01:14:18 +0000

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 22 (1907)

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 25 (1907)

Dave — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 18:13:41 +0000

Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 25 (1907)
(Source)

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 31 (1907)

Dave — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 03:04:59 +0000

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 31 (1907)

Adams, Henry -- The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 7 (1907)

Dave — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 05:42:44 +0000

A friend in power is a friend lost.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Education of Henry Adams, ch. 7 (1907)

Adams, Henry -- The Letters of Henry Adams [ed. W. C. Ford (1930-38)]

Dave — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:58:23 +0000

The press is the hired agent of a monied system, and set up for no other purpose than to tell lies where their interests are involved. One can trust nobody and nothing.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
The Letters of Henry Adams [ed. W. C. Ford (1930-38)]

Adams, Henry -- Letter to Henry Cabot Lodge (15 Nov 1881)

Dave — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:01:52 +0000

No man should be in politics unless he would honestly rather not be there.

Henry Adams (1838–1918) American journalist, historian, academic, novelist
Letter to Henry Cabot Lodge (15 Nov 1881)