#ric

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. ↗

— Michael Crichton

#avoid #been #claim #claiming #consensus

One more thing, gentlemen, before I quit. Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal, a phrase that the Yankees and the distaff side of the Executive branch in Washington are fond of hurling at us. There is a tendency in this year of grace, 1935, for certain people to use this phrase out of context, to satisfy all conditions. The most ridiculous example I can think of is that the people who run public education promote the stupid and idle along with the industrious—because all men are created equal, educators will gravely tell you, the children left behind suffer terrible feelings of inferiority. We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe—some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they’re born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies make better cakes than others—some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men. ↗

— Harper Lee

#education

I'm here tonight, not as a Republican, not as a Democrat, but as an optimistic American who understands that we must come together behind the one man who can lead the way forward in these challenging times: my president, our president, Barack Obama! ↗

— Charlie Crist

#barack #barack obama #behind #challenging #challenging times

Let it be immediately added, however, that this economic independence and prosperity has always been absolutely associated in the American mind with free political institutions. ↗

— Herbert Croly

#added #always #american #associated #been

The American economic, political, and social organization has given to its citizens the benefits of material prosperity, political liberty, and a wholesome natural equality; and this achievement is a gain, not only to Americans, but to the world and to civilization. ↗

— Herbert Croly

#american #benefits #citizens #civilization #economic

The average American is nothing if not patriotic. ↗

— Herbert Croly

#american #average #average american #nothing #patriotic

The first phase of American political history was characterized by the conflict between the Federalists and the Republicans, and it resulted in the complete triumph of the latter. ↗

— Herbert Croly

#between #characterized #complete #conflict #first

The higher American patriotism, on the other hand, combines loyalty to historical tradition and precedent with the imaginative projection of an ideal national Promise. ↗

— Herbert Croly

#combines #hand #higher #historical #ideal

The moral and social aspiration proper to American life is, of course, the aspiration vaguely described by the word democratic; and the actual achievement of the American nation points towards an adequate and fruitful definition of the democratic ideal. ↗

— Herbert Croly

#actual #adequate #american #american life #aspiration

In America, we have to learn to be patient enough to figure out what somebody is saying. Somebody might actually be saying something. ↗

— Stanley Crouch

#america #be patient #enough #figure #learn