#rita

Social conservatism and neoconservatism have revived authoritarian conservatism, and not for the better of conservatism or American democracy. True conservatism is cautious and prudent. Authoritarianism is rash and radical. American democracy has benefited from true conservatism, but authoritarianism offers potentially serious trouble for any democracy. ↗

— John W. Dean

#conservatism #democracy #politics #democracy

I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations. ↗

— Beatrix Potter

#influence #personality #influence

I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones. ↗

— George Orwell

#political-satire #quthoritarianism #russian-revolution #virtue

Sir, I shall not defeat you - I shall transcend you. ↗

— Benjamin Disraeli

#history #literature #politics #defeat

TWO AND TWO MAKES FIVE ↗

— George Orwell

#orwell #russian-revolution #satire #satire

By now he had learned enough to know that when he was getting annoyed at somebody else, it was usually because there was something that he himself should be doing, and he wasn't doing it. ↗

— Lev Grossman

#annoyance #irritation #responsibility #self-awareness #self-awareness

You cannot trust people who have such bad cuisine. It is the country with the worst food after Finland. ↗

— Jacques Chirac

#food

Christianity, democracy, science, education, wealth, and the cumulative inheritance of a thousand years, have not preserved us from the vain repetition of history. ↗

— Ralph A. Cram

#cumulative #democracy #education #history #inheritance

We instinctively tend to limit for whom we exert ourselves. We do it for people like us, and for people whom we like. Jesus will have none of that. By depicting a Samaritan helping a Jew, Jesus could not have found a more forceful way to say that anyone at all in need - regardless of race, politics, class, and religion - is your neighbour. Not everyone is your brother or sister in faith, but everyone is your neighbour, and you must love your neighbour. ↗

— Timothy Keller

#good-samaritan #jesus #neighbour #faith

I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past. ↗

— Clara Barton

#always #anything #been #better #complete