Cultural constraints condition and limit our choices, shaping our characters with their imperatives. Jeane Kirkpatrick More Quotes by Jeane Kirkpatrick More Quotes From Jeane Kirkpatrick A government is not legitimate merely because it exists. Jeane Kirkpatrick liberty political government I was a woman in a man's world. I was a Democrat in a Republican administration. I was an intellectual in a world of bureaucrats. I talked differently. This may have made me a bit like an ink blot. Jeane Kirkpatrick ink intellectual men Words can destroy. What we call each other ultimately becomes what we think of each other, and it matters. Jeane Kirkpatrick healing matter thinking Democrats can't get elected unless things get worse-and things won't get worse unless they get elected. Jeane Kirkpatrick republican political humorous I conclude that it is a fundamental mistake to think that salvation, justice, or virtue come through merely human institutions. Jeane Kirkpatrick umpires mistake thinking What takes place in the Security Council more closely resembles a mugging than either a political debate or an effort at problem-solving. Jeane Kirkpatrick effort political problem History is a better guide than good intentions. Jeane Kirkpatrick good-intentions women history When Marxist dictators shoot their way into power in Central America, the Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies, they blame United States' policies of one hundred years ago, but then they always blame America first. Jeane Kirkpatrick war america years Truth, which is important to a scholar, has to be concrete. And there is nothing more concrete than dealing with babies, burps and bottles, frogs and mud. Jeane Kirkpatrick bottles important baby For all their faults, right-wing authoritarian regimes more easily accept democratic reforms than left-wing totalitarian states. Jeane Kirkpatrick faults wings war The absence of utopianism in the Constitution, law, and traditional political culture has been ... important in limiting expectations concerning what can be achieved by politics. The history of the last two centuries confirms what the framers of the Constitution understood: that the perfect is the enemy of the good, and the search for unalloyed virtue in public life leads to unalloyed terror. Jeane Kirkpatrick law perfect two Democracy not only requires equality but also an unshakable conviction in the value of each person, who is then equal. Cross cultural experience teaches us not simply that people have different beliefs, but that people seek meaning and understand themselves in some sense as members of a cosmos ruled by God. Jeane Kirkpatrick democracy different people Vietnam presumably taught us that the United States could not serve as the world's policeman; it should also have taught us the dangers of trying to be the world's midwife to democracy when the birth is scheduled to take place under conditions of guerrilla war. Jeane Kirkpatrick taught-us military war Mr. President, we've taken off our "Kick Me" sign. Jeane Kirkpatrick kicks taken president Americans need to face the truth about themselves, no matter how pleasant it is. Jeane Kirkpatrick matter faces needs Tyranny and anarchy are alike incompatible with freedom, security, and the enjoyment of opportunity. Jeane Kirkpatrick helping-others opportunity people Look, I don't even agree with myself at times. Jeane Kirkpatrick agree looks All of us confront limits of body, talent, temperament. But that is not all. We are, all of us, also constrained by our time, our place, our civilization. Jeane Kirkpatrick body limits civilization Democracy not only requires equality but also an unshakable conviction in the value of each person, who is then equal Jeane Kirkpatrick equality conviction democracy Power ... is not an end in itself, but is an instrument that must be used toward an end. Jeane Kirkpatrick used ends power
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