Quotes by Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann

American writer, reporter, and political commentator

Lived from: 1889 - 1974

Category: Writers (Contemporary) Country: FlagUnited States

Born: 23 september 1889 Died: 14 december 1974

  • 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.
  • Unless the reformer can invent something which substitutes attractive virtues for attractive vices, he will fail.
  • Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.
  • The private citizen, beset by partisan appeals for the loan of his Public Opinion, will soon see, perhaps, that these appeals are not a compliment to his intelligence, but an imposition on his good nature and an insult to his sense of evidence.
  • 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.
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  • It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • The disesteem into which moralists have fallen is due at bottom to their failure to see that in an age like this one the function of the moralist is not to exhort men to be good but to elucidate what the good is. The problem of sanctions is secondary.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • A useful definition of liberty is obtained only by seeking the principle of liberty in the main business of human life, that is to say, in the process by which men educate their responses and learn to control their environment.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • 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
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  • Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • Corrupt, stupid grasping functionaries will make at least as big a muddle of socialism as stupid, selfish and acquisitive employers can make of capitalism.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • Football strategy does not originate in a scrimmage: it is useless to expect solutions in a political campaign.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • Ignore what a man desires and you ignore the very source of his power
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • 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
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  • 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.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • In making the great experiment of governing people by consent rather than by coercion, it is not sufficient that the party in power should have a majority. It is just as necessary that the party in power should never outrage the minority.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • It is perfectly true that that government is best which governs least. It is equally true that that government is best which provides most.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • Let a human being throw the energies of his soul into the making of something, and the instinct of workmanship will take care of his honesty.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • Many a time I have wanted to stop talking and find out what I really believed.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • 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.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • 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.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • People that are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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  • Private property was the original source of freedom. It still is its main ballpark.
    ― Walter Lippmann
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What are the most famous quotes from Walter Lippmann?

The two most famous quotes from Walter Lippmann are:

  • "It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf."
  • "The disesteem into which moralists have fallen is due at bottom to their failure to see that in an age like this one the function of the moralist is not to exhort men to be good but to elucidate what the good is. The problem of sanctions is secondary."

When did Walter Lippmann live?

Walter Lippmann was born in 1889 and died in the year 1974.