WIST Quotations

Chamfort, Nicolas -- Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 21 (1795) [tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

Dave — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 16:44:52 +0000

Often an opinion, a custom, seems absurd when we are young, and advancing in life, we find the reason. Mustn’t we conclude that certain habits aren’t so ridiculous? One is lead to think sometimes that they were established by people who had read the entire book of life, and that they are judged by people who, despite their esprit, have only read a few pages.

[Souvent une opinion, une coutume commence à paraître absurde dans la première jeunesse, et en avançant dans la vie, on en trouve la raison; elle paraît moins absurde. En faudrait-il conclure que de certaines coutumes sont moins ridicules? On serait porté à penser quelquefois qu’elles ont été établies par des gens qui avaient lu le livre entier de la vie, et qu’elles sont jugées par des gens qui, malgré leur esprit, n’en ont lu que quelques pages.]

Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 21 (1795) [tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]
(Source)

Compare to also Chamfort. (Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Often in early youth an opinion or custom seems absurd to us, which, with advancing years, we discover has some justification and so appears less absurd. Ought we to conclude from this that certain customs are not so ridiculous as others? One might sometimes be tempted to think that they were established by people who had read the book of life through, and that they are judged by those who, despite their intelligence, have only glanced at a few pages.
[tr. Hutchinson (1902)]

Often an opinion or custom seems absurd to us in early youth; but as we advance in life we see the reason for it, and it appears less fatuous. Must we conclude from this that certain customs actually are less absurd? One is sometimes led to suppose that they have been established by folk who have read the whole of the book of life, and that they are criticized by those who, in spite of their intelligence, have only read a page or two at best.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

Often an opinion, a custom, seems absurd to begin with, when one is very young, and as one advances in life one learns the reason for it, and it seems less so. Must one conclude, then, that certain customs have become less ridiculous? At times one is drawn to the conclusion that they were established by persons who had read the book of life entire, and are judged by others who have read only a few pages.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Often an opinion, or a custom, begins to seem absurd in one's early youth, and, as life advances, one finds the reason for it; it seems less absurd. Is one ot conclude that certain customs are less ridiculous? One would sometimes be inclined to think that they had been laid down by people who had read the entire book of life, and that they are judged by people who, in spite of their intellect, have only read a few pages of it.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

To the very young some opinions or customs seem absurd, but as you grow older you realize the reason behind them and they seem less absurd. Are we to conclude that certain customs aren't as ridiculous as they seem? There are times when you feel that they've been created by people who've read the book of life from cover to cover and that they're being judged by those who, however intelligent, have read only a few pages.
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 20]

Mauldin, Bill -- Back Home, ch. 14 (1947)

Dave — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 18:44:29 +0000

I have heard people say we should be strong so that if there is another war we can win it, then show the world the right way to live afterward. This is old stuff, and it is poppycock. Our behavior hardly qualifies us as world leaders. Ours is one of the most conservative governments in the world today, and one of the most bumbling. We have more provincialism and bigotry and superstition and prejudice per square mile than almost any other nation. We like to think of ourselves as a young, progressive country, but, while we do have energy, we have become smug and self-satisfied.

Bill Mauldin (1921-2003) American editorial cartoonist, writer
Back Home, ch. 14 (1947)
(Source)

Mauldin, Bill -- Back Home, ch. 12 (1947)

Dave — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 20:54:05 +0000

People with new ideas, or those who step out of the popular line of thought, have always been lambasted as crackpots and radicals. Sometimes they have been exactly that, but quite often they have accomplished great things, and certainly none of the advances made in civilization has been due to counterrevolutionaries and advocates of the status quo.

Bill Mauldin (1921-2003) American editorial cartoonist, writer
Back Home, ch. 12 (1947)
(Source)

Russell, Bertrand -- Interview by Woodrow Wyatt, BBC TV (1959)

Dave — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 19:38:20 +0000

In the main, I think religion has done a great deal of harm. Largely by sanctifying conservatism and adhesion to ancient habits, and still more by sanctifying intolerance and hatred. The amount of intolerance that has gone into religion, especially in Europe, is quite terrible.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Interview by Woodrow Wyatt, BBC TV (1959)

Collected in Bertrand Russell's BBC Interviews (1959) [UK] and Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind (1960) [US]. Reprinted (abridged) in The Humanist (1982-11/12), and in Russell Society News, #37 (1983-02).

Sinclair, Upton -- Money Writes!, ch. 22 “The Bookleggers” (1927)

Dave — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 14:53:25 +0000

Every time you get a censor, you get a fool, and worse yet a knave, pretending to be a guardian of morality, while acting as a guardian of class greed.

Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) American writer, journalist, activist, politician
Money Writes!, ch. 22 “The Bookleggers” (1927)
(Source)

Self-quoted in "Poor Me and Pure Boston," The Nation (1927-06-29)

Hand, Learned -- “The Speech of Justice,” Harvard Law Review (1916-04)

Dave — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 16:58:05 +0000

Two conditions are essential to the realization of justice according to law. The law must have an authority supreme over the will of the individual, and such an authority can arise only from a background of social acquiescence, which gives it the voice of indefinitely greater numbers than those of its expositors. Thus, the law surpasses the deliverances of even the most exalted of its prophets; the momentum of its composite will alone makes it effective to coerce the individual and reconciles him to his subserviency. The pious traditionalism of the law has its roots in a sound conviction of this necessity; it must be content to lag behind the best inspiration of its time until it feels behind it the weight of such general acceptance as will give sanction to its pretension to unquestioned dictation.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
“The Speech of Justice,” Harvard Law Review (1916-04)
(Source)

Collected in The Spirit of Liberty (1953).

Johnson, Samuel -- Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

Dave — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 17:56:03 +0000

He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57
(Source)

Quoting his friend, Sophron (Wisdom, Prudence), who prefers old, tested ways to new ones.

Graham, Billy -- “Billy Graham: America Is Not God’s Only Kingdom,” Parade Magazine (1 Feb 1981)

Dave — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 05:30:04 +0000

I told him to preach the Gospel. That’s our calling. I want to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the freedom of religion in America. I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. Liberals organized in the ’60s, and conservatives certainly have a right to organize in the ’80s, but it would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.

Billy Graham (1918-2018) American evangelist, revivalist, author [William Franklin Graham Jr.]
“Billy Graham: America Is Not God’s Only Kingdom,” Parade Magazine (1 Feb 1981)
(Source)

A comment Graham said he gave to Jerry Falwell, head of the Moral Majority. Usually quoted in an abbreviated version:

I don't want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.

Atherton, Gertrude -- The Living Present, Book 2, ch. 1, sec. 1 (1917)

Dave — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 15:05:48 +0000

There is a strong conservative instinct in the average man or woman, born of the hereditary fear of life, that prompts them to cling to old standards, or, if too intelligent to look inhospitably upon progress, to move very slowly. Both types are the brakes and wheelhorses necessary to a stable civilization, but history, even current history in the newspapers, would be dull reading if there were no adventurous spirits willing to do battle for new ideas.

Gertrude Atherton (1857-1948) American author, essayist
The Living Present, Book 2, ch. 1, sec. 1 (1917)
(Source)

Commager, Henry Steele -- Speech (1971-04-10), “The University and the Community of Learning,” Kent State University, Ohio

Dave — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 20:05:16 +0000

What threatens our security is not change but the inability to change; what threatens progress is not revolution but stagnation; what threatens our survival is not novel or dangerous ideas but the absence of ideas.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Speech (1971-04-10), “The University and the Community of Learning,” Kent State University, Ohio
(Source)

Wilhoit, Frank -- Crookedtimber.org, “The Travesty of Liberalism,” Comment #26 (22 Mar 2018)

Dave — Mon, 30 May 2022 21:23:30 +0000

The task is to throw all those things on the exact same burn pile as the collected works of all the apologists for conservatism, and start fresh. The core proposition of anti-conservatism requires no supplementation and no exegesis. It is as sufficient as it is necessary. What you see is what you get:

The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.

Frank Wilhoit (contemp.) American composer and software architect
Crookedtimber.org, “The Travesty of Liberalism,” Comment #26 (22 Mar 2018)
(Source)

Paton, Alan -- “The Challenge of Fear,” The Saturday Review (1967-09-09)

Dave — Wed, 04 May 2022 00:10:11 +0000

When men are ruled by fear, they strive to prevent the very changes that will abate it.

Alan Paton (1903-1988) South African author, activist
“The Challenge of Fear,” The Saturday Review (1967-09-09)
(Source)

Collected in Sheridan Baker, The Essayist (1981).

Lindbergh, Anne Morrow -- The Wave of the Future (1940)

Dave — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 16:36:27 +0000

There is no sin punished more implacably by nature than the sin of resistance to change. For change is the very essence of living matter. To resist change is to sin against life itself.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001) American writer, pilot
The Wave of the Future (1940)
(Source)

Commager, Henry Steele -- “Who Is Loyal to America?” Harper’s Magazine #1168 (Sep 1947)

Dave — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 21:29:05 +0000

Who among American heroes could meet their tests, who would be cleared by their committees? Not Washington, who was a rebel. Not Jefferson, who wrote that all men are created equal and whose motto was “rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” Not Garrison, who publicly burned the Constitution; or Wendell Phillips, who spoke for the underprivileged everywhere and counted himself a philosophical anarchist; not Seward of the Higher Law or Sumner of racial equality. Not Lincoln, who admonished us to have malice toward none, charity for all; or Wilson, who warned that our flag was “a flag of liberty of opinion as well as of political liberty”; or Justice Holmes, who said that our Constitution is an experiment and that while that experiment is being made “we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death.”

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
“Who Is Loyal to America?” Harper’s Magazine #1168 (Sep 1947)
(Source)

Reprinted in Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954)

Commager, Henry Steele -- Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 1, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168

Dave — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 20:54:58 +0000

What is the new loyalty? It is, above all, conformity. It is the uncritical and unquestioning acceptance of America as it is — the political institutions, the social relationships, the economic practices. It rejects inquiry into the race question or socialized medicine, or public housing, or into the wisdom or validity of our foreign policy. It regards as particularly heinous any challenge to what is called “the system of private enterprise,” identifying that system with Americanism. It abandons evolution, repudiates the once popular concept of progress, and regards America as a finished product, perfect and complete.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 1, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168
(Source)

Reprinted in Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954).

Chesterton, Gilbert Keith -- Orthodoxy, ch. 4 “The Ethics of Elfland” (1908)

Dave — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 23:54:28 +0000

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English journalist and writer
Orthodoxy, ch. 4 “The Ethics of Elfland” (1908)
(Source)

Lippmann, Walter -- A Preface to Politics, ch. 1 (1914)

Dave — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 20:08:18 +0000

Success makes men rigid and they tend to exalt stability over all the other virtues; tired of the effort of willing they become fanatics about conservatism.

Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist and author
A Preface to Politics, ch. 1 (1914)
(Source)

Ohmae, Kenichi -- The Mind of the Strategist (1982)

Dave — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 20:29:36 +0000

More strategies fail because they are overripe than because they are premature.

Kenichi Ohmae (b. 1943) Japanese management consultant, writer
The Mind of the Strategist (1982)
(Source)

Will, George F. -- “The Cubs and Conservatism” (21 Mar 1974), Bunts (1998)

Dave — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 22:02:50 +0000

Conservatives know the world is a dark and forbidding place where most new knowledge is false, most improvements for the worse, the battle is not to the strong, nor riches to men of understanding, and an unscrupulous Providence consigns innocents to suffering.

George Will (b. 1941) American political commentator
“The Cubs and Conservatism” (21 Mar 1974), Bunts (1998)
(Source)

Will is, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, describing the origin of his conservatism in his being a fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Arendt, Hannah -- Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books

Dave — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:23:11 +0000

Man’s urge for change and his need for stability have always balanced and checked each other, and our current vocabulary, which distinguishes between two factions, the progressives and the conservatives, indicates a state of affairs in which this balance has been thrown out of order. No civilization — the man-made artifact to house successive generations — would ever have been possible without a framework of stability, to provide the wherein for the flux of change.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Essay (1969-02-27), “Reflections on Violence,” The New York Review of Books
(Source)

Revised and collected in Crises of the Republic, "On Violence" (1972).

Kempton, Murray -- “The Genius of Mussolini,” New York Review of Books (7 Oct 1982)

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 21:44:25 +0000

Every now and then, in the course of great events, the elements of tradition and innovation ally themselves and each one’s weakness supplements the other and together they achieve the perfect debacle.

Murray Kempton (1917-1997) American journalist.
“The Genius of Mussolini,” New York Review of Books (7 Oct 1982)
(Source)

Reprinted in Rebellions, Perversities, and Main Events (1994).

Napoleon Bonaparte -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 17:10:26 +0000

Lead the ideas of your time and they will accompany and support you; fall behind them and they drag you along with them; oppose them and they will overwhelm you.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor, military leader
(Attributed)
(Source)

Quoted, unsourced, in Jules Bertaut, Napoleon: In His Own Words [Virilités, maximes et pensées de Napoléon Bonaparte], ch. 4 (1916) [tr. Law and Rhodes].

Truman, Harry S -- Speech (1952-10-10), Syracuse, New York

Dave — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 04:23:31 +0000

Taft explained that the great issue in this campaign is “creeping socialism.” Now that is the patented trademark of the special interest lobbies. Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last twenty years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm prices supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.

Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Speech (1952-10-10), Syracuse, New York
(Source)

Referring to Sen. Robert A. Taft (R-Ohio).

Audio recording (the quotation is at 6:35 into the speech).

Lynd, Robert -- Middletown, ch. 29 (1929) [with Helen Lynd]

Dave — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 01:37:58 +0000

As has been pointed out so often, it is characteristic of mankind to make as little adjustment as possible in customary ways in the face of new conditions; the process of social change is epitomized in the fact that the first Packard car body delivered to the manufacturers had a whipstock on the dashboard.

Robert Lynd (1892-1970) American sociologist [Robert Slaughton Lynd]
Middletown, ch. 29 (1929) [with Helen Lynd]
(Source)

Lewis, C.S. -- The Abolition of Man (1943)

Dave — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 22:03:14 +0000

The process which, if not checked, will abolish Man goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among Fascists. The methods may (at first) differ in brutality. But many a mild-eyed scientist in pince-nez, many a popular dramatist, many an amateur philosopher in our midst, means in the long run just the same as the Nazi rulers of Germany: ‘Traditional values are to be debunked’ and mankind to be cut out into some fresh shape at the will (which must, by hypothesis, be an arbitrary will) of some few lucky people in one lucky generation which has learned how to do it.

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
The Abolition of Man (1943)

Steinbeck, John -- Travels With Charley: In Search of America, Part 2 (1962)

Dave — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 16:56:18 +0000

We, or at least I, can have no conception of human life and human thought in a hundred years or fifty years. Perhaps my greatest wisdom is the knowledge that I do not know. The sad ones are those who waste their energy in trying to hold it back, for they can only feel bitterness in loss and no joy in gain.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer
Travels With Charley: In Search of America, Part 2 (1962)

Wilson, Woodrow -- “The Democracy of Business,” speech, Salesmanship Congress, Detroit (1916-07-10)

Dave — Thu, 05 May 2016 16:35:00 +0000

We call ourselves a liberal nation, whereas, as a matter of fact, we are one of the most conservative nations in the world. If you want to make enemies, try to change something. You know why it is. To do things to-day exactly the way you did them yesterday saves thinking. It does not cost you anything. You have acquired the habit; you know the routine; you do not have to plan anything, and it frightens you with a hint of exertion to learn that you will have to do it a different way to-morrow.

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) US President (1913-20), educator, political scientist
“The Democracy of Business,” speech, Salesmanship Congress, Detroit (1916-07-10)
(Source)

Usually trimmed down to just: "If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

Tolstoy, Leo -- The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Dave — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:54:03 +0000

Slavery was contrary to all the moral principles advocated by Plato and Aristotle, yet neither of them saw this because to renounce slavery would have meant the collapse of the life they were living.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) Russian novelist and moral philosopher
The Kingdom of God Is Within You, ch. 6 (1893) [tr. Maude (1936)]

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- Speech, Republican National Convention, accepting the presidential nomination (23 Aug 1956)

Dave — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 12:27:35 +0000

Change based on principle is progress. Constant change without principle becomes chaos.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
Speech, Republican National Convention, accepting the presidential nomination (23 Aug 1956)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Science and the Modern World (1925)

Dave — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:55:24 +0000

It is the business of the future to be dangerous.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Science and the Modern World (1925)

Galbraith, John Kenneth -- The Affluent Society, ch. 2, sec. 6 (1958)

Dave — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:43:26 +0000

The rule of ideas is only powerful in a world that does not change. Ideas are inherently conservative. They yield not to the attack of other ideas but to the massive onslaught of circumstance with which they cannot contend.

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
The Affluent Society, ch. 2, sec. 6 (1958)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- The Rambler, #117 (30 Apr 1751)

Dave — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:46:06 +0000

Nothing has more retarded the advancement of learning than the disposition of vulgar minds to ridicule and vilify what they cannot comprehend.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #117 (30 Apr 1751)
(Source)

Presented as a letter from "Hypertatus"

Twain, Mark -- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, ch. 5 (1876)

Dave — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:11:02 +0000

Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, ch. 5 (1876)

Burgess, Gelett -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

If in the last few years you haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead.

Gelett Burgess (1866-1951) American humorist and illustrator
(Attributed)

Common paraphrase. In Look Eleven Years Younger (1937), Burgess gives two versions of the quotation:

"When you find you haven’t discarded a major opinion for years, or acquired a new one, you should stop and investigate to see if you’re not growing senile."
"If in the last few years you haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one investigate and see if you’re not growing senile."

See for more discussion.

Peter, Lawrence J. -- Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.

Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)

Robertson, Pat -- Fund-raising letter to Christian Coalition members in Iowa (1992-07)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

Pat Robertson (1930-2023) American politician and televangelist
Fund-raising letter to Christian Coalition members in Iowa (1992-07)

The letter urged supporters to vote down Iowa's state Equal Rights Amendment (the referendum failed that November).

More discussion of this quotation:

Frequently misattributed to his speech at the 1992 GOP Presidential Convention.

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Radicalism,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:00:00 +0000

RADICALISM, n. The conservatism of to-morrow injected into the affairs of to-day.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Radicalism,” The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
(Source)

Originally published in the "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1906-06-29).