Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
—George Santayana, 1905
18
The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
—William Faulkner, 1951
I have seen the future and it doesn’t work.
—Robert Fulford
19
It would only take one generation of forgetfulness to put us back intellectually several
hundred years.
—Anonymous
20
When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found. They
forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.
—Carl Sandburg, 1948
***
Liberalism has no obvious answers to the biggest problems we face: ecological collapse and
technological disruption.
—Yuval Noah Harari, 2018
A liberal is a man who is willing to spend somebody else’s money.
—Carter Glass
21
A liberal is a person whose interests aren’t at stake at the moment.
—Willis Player, 1972
Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved
replacing what worked with what sounded good.
—Thomas Sowell, 1993
There’s a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons that sound good.
—William E. Vaughan, 1978
Tender surgeons make foul wounds.
—European proverb
Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.
—William Shakespeare, 1606
18
This famous aphorism is actually a succinct paraphrase of earlier, longer lines by Baruch Spinoza
and Edmund Burke.
19
This is an evident reverse of the well-known statement made by Lincoln Steffens after his visit to
Soviet Russia in 1921, or rather to its later (circa 1933) paraphrase: “I have seen the future and it
works
”.
20
This statement is sometimes attributed to certain Dean Tollefson, but I could not find a reliable
confirmation of this authorship.
21
As quoted, without a date, in several reputable collections.
170
On Government and Politics
—George Santayana, 1905
18
The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
—William Faulkner, 1951
I have seen the future and it doesn’t work.
—Robert Fulford
19
It would only take one generation of forgetfulness to put us back intellectually several
hundred years.
—Anonymous
20
When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found. They
forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.
—Carl Sandburg, 1948
***
Liberalism has no obvious answers to the biggest problems we face: ecological collapse and
technological disruption.
—Yuval Noah Harari, 2018
A liberal is a man who is willing to spend somebody else’s money.
—Carter Glass
21
A liberal is a person whose interests aren’t at stake at the moment.
—Willis Player, 1972
Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved
replacing what worked with what sounded good.
—Thomas Sowell, 1993
There’s a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons that sound good.
—William E. Vaughan, 1978
Tender surgeons make foul wounds.
—European proverb
Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.
—William Shakespeare, 1606
18
This famous aphorism is actually a succinct paraphrase of earlier, longer lines by Baruch Spinoza
and Edmund Burke.
19
This is an evident reverse of the well-known statement made by Lincoln Steffens after his visit to
Soviet Russia in 1921, or rather to its later (circa 1933) paraphrase: “I have seen the future and it
works
”.
20
This statement is sometimes attributed to certain Dean Tollefson, but I could not find a reliable
confirmation of this authorship.
21
As quoted, without a date, in several reputable collections.
170
On Government and Politics