Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort it brings.
In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents.
Ages when custom is unsettled are necessarily ages of prophecy. The moralist cannot teach what is revealed; he must reveal what can be taught. He has to seek insight rather than to preach.
What we call a democratic society might be defined for certain purposes as one in which the majority is always prepared to put down a revolutionary minority.
Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible.
The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opposition than from his fervent supporters.
There is nothing so good for the human soul as the discovery that there are ancient and flourishing civilized societies which have somehow managed to exist for many centuries and are still in being though they have had no help from the traveler in solving their problems.
The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.
It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most.
The study of error is not only in the highest degree prophylactic, but it serves as a stimulating introduction to the study of truth.
He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.
A man has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.
Social movements are at once the symptoms and the instruments of progress. Ignore them and statesmanship is irrelevant; fail to use them and it is weak.
A long life in journalism convinced me many presidents ago that there should be a large air space between a journalist and the head of a state.
Men who are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives.
People that are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives.
Our conscience is not the vessel of eternal verities. It grows with our social life, and a new social condition means a radical change in conscience.
Unless the reformer can invent something which substitutes attractive virtues for attractive vices, he will fail.
The best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master's ear. It is the court fool, not the foolish courtier, whom the king can least afford to lose.
