Walter Lippmann Quotes
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. A man has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so. 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. Brains, you know, are suspect in the Republican Party. He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so. Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible. In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs. 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. Industry is a better horse to ride than genius. It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most. It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf. Many a time I have wanted to stop talking and find out what I really believed. Men who are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives. Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort it brings. No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people. Once you touch the biographies of human beings, the notion that political beliefs are logically determined collapses like a pricked balloon. Only the consciousness of a purpose that is mightier than any man and worthy of all men can fortify and inspirit and compose the souls of men. 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. People that are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives. Private property was the original source of freedom. It still is its main ballpark.
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