The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority. Walter Lippmann More Quotes by Walter Lippmann More Quotes From Walter Lippmann Success makes men rigid and they tend to exalt stability over all the other virtues; tired of the effort of willing they become fanatics about conservatism. Walter Lippmann congratulationstiredsuccess Happiness cannot be the reward of virtue; it must be the intelligible consequence of it. Walter Lippmann consequencerewardsvirtue The principles of the good society call for a concern with an order of being - which cannot be proved existentially to the sense organs - where it matters supremely that the human person is inviolable, that reason shall regulate the will, that truth shall prevail over error. Walter Lippmann errorssocietyorder The tendency of the casual mind is to pick out or stumble upon a sample which supports or defies its prejudices, and then to make it the representative of a whole class. Walter Lippmann diversitysupportclass When everyone thinks alike, no one thinks very much. Walter Lippmann funny-inspirationaleducationfunny Behind innocence there gathers a clotted mass of superstition, of twisted and misdirected impulse; clandestine flirtation, fads, and ragtime fill the unventilated mind. Walter Lippmann fadssuperstitionsmind When everyone thinks the same, nobody is thinking. Walter Lippmann thinking The effort to calculate exactly what the voters want at each particular moment leaves out of account the fact that when they are troubled the thing the voters most want is to be told what to want. Walter Lippmann votingeffortfacts Football strategy does not originate in a scrimmage: it is useless to expect solutions in a political campaign. Walter Lippmann politicaluselessfootball A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society. ... A great society is simply a big and complicated urban society. Walter Lippmann urbanprivilegemedia Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization. Walter Lippmann namescivilizationbook The mass of the reading public is not interested in learning and assimilating the results of accurate investigation. Walter Lippmann investigationresultsreading Without criticism and reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern. Walter Lippmann governmentintelligentcriticism Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character. Walter Lippmann realpersonalitycharacter A large plural society cannot be governed without recognizing that, transcending its plural interests, there is a rational order with a superior common law. Walter Lippmann lawcommonorder We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we experience them. And those preconceptions, unless education has made us acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception. Walter Lippmann imagineperceptionworld Whenever we accept an idea as authority instead of as instrument, an idol is set up. We worship the plough, and not the fruit. Walter Lippmann fruitidolsideas In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs. Walter Lippmann libertyjusticemen We must abandon the notion that the people govern. Instead, we must adopt the theory that, by their occasional mobilisations as a majority, people support or oppose the individuals who actually govern. Walter Lippmann supportfreedompeople No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people. Walter Lippmann educationhairpeople
