Robinson Crusoe, the self-sufficient man, could not have lived in New York city. Walter Lippmann More Quotes by Walter Lippmann More Quotes From Walter Lippmann In places where men are used to differences they inevitably become tolerant. Walter Lippmann differencesusedmen Once you touch the biographies of human beings, the notion that political beliefs are logically determined collapses like a pricked balloon. Walter Lippmann balloonsbiographiespolitical Men who are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives. Walter Lippmann middledangermen The news of the days it reaches the newspaper office is an incredible medley of fact, propaganda, rumor, suspicion, clues, hopes, and fears, and the task of selecting and ordering that news is one of the truly sacred and priestly offices in a democracy. For the newspaper is in all literalness the bible of democracy, the book out of which a people determines its conduct. Walter Lippmann officebookpeople Certainly he is not of the generation that regards honesty as the best policy. However, he does regard it as a policy. Walter Lippmann generationshonestydoe An alliance is like a chain. It is not made stronger by adding weak links to it. A great power like the United States gains no advantage and it loses prestige by offering, indeed peddling, its alliances to all and sundry. An alliance should be hard diplomatic currency, valuable and hard to get, and not inflationary paper from the mimeograph machine in the State Department. Walter Lippmann strongerofferinglinks This is one of the paradoxes of the democratic movement - that it loves a crowd and fears the individuals who compose it - that the religion of humanity should have no faith in human beings. Walter Lippmann freedomhumanityshould-have We forge gradually our greatest instrument for understanding the world - introspection. We discover that humanity may resemble us very considerably - that the best way of knowing the inwardness of our neighbors is to know ourselves. Walter Lippmann understandingknowingknowledge 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. Walter Lippmann taughtinsightage Almost always tradition is nothing but a record and a machine-made imitation of the habits that our ancestors created. The average conservative is a slave to the most incidental and trivial part of his forefathers glory - to the archaic formula which happened to express their genius or the eighteenth-century contrivance by which for a time it was served. Walter Lippmann machinesgeniusaverage Ideals are an imaginative understanding of that which is desirable in that which is possible. Walter Lippmann imaginativeidealsunderstanding We know that it is possible to harness desire to many interests, that evil is one form of a desire, and not the nature of it. Walter Lippmann wickednessevildesire In the blood of the martyrs to intolerance are the seeds of unbelief Walter Lippmann intolerancebeliefblood 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. Walter Lippmann spaceairlong Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort it brings. Walter Lippmann effortfreedommen The time has come to stop beating our heads against stone walls under the illusion that we have been appointed policeman to the human race. Walter Lippmann wallwarpeace 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. Walter Lippmann progressmovementuse There is but one bond of peace that is both permanent and enriching: The increasing knowledge of the world in which experiment occurs. Walter Lippmann increasing-knowledgepeaceworld The first principle of a civilized state is that power is legitimate only when it is under contract. Walter Lippmann principlespowerfirsts Unless the reformer can invent something which substitutes attractive virtues for attractive vices, he will fail. Walter Lippmann failingvicesinspirational
