- "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
- Plato
-
"Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved."
- Aristotle:
- "Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse."
- Nigerian Proverb
-
"Truth is arrived at by the painstaking process of eliminating the untrue."
- Sherlock Holmes, (Arthur Conan Doyle)
-
"Once expanded to the dimensions of a larger idea,
[the mind] never returns to its original size."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
-
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts,
foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.
For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood
in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. "
- John F. Kennedy
-
"Were it left to me to have a government with no newspapers,
or newspapers with no government, I should not
hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
"Experience declares that man is the only animal
which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term...
to the general prey of the rich upon the poor."
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free,
in a state of civilization, it expects
what never was and never will be."
"When the government fears the people, that is liberty.
When the people fear the government, that is tyranny."
- Thomas Jefferson -
- "A conservative is a man who sits and thinks," he once wrote, "but mainly sits."
- President Woodrow Wilson -
-
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
- Will Rogers -
-
"Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards."
- S�ren Kierkegaard -
- "When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake
of convincing those who do not know it, but
for the sake of defending those that do"
- William Blake
- "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." &
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right
to tell people what they do not want to hear."
- George Orwell -
- "There are few, I believe who will not acknowledge that slavery
as an institution is a moral and political evil."- Robert E. Lee
- Bertrand Russell on
 the essence of the liberal outlook :
-
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of
man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is,
the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. "
&
"Liberalism is, I think, resurgent.
One reason is that more and more people
are so painfully aware of the alternative."
- John Kenneth Galbraith -
-
In his study of American politics, historian Alexis de Tocqueville praised the openness of our democratic system, but warned that
"There will come a time when the rich and powerful try to kick the door closed."
- "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint,
but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist."
- Dom Helder Camara - Archbishop of Recife in Brazil, one of the great prophets of Christian Liberation theology.
- When will our consciences grow so tender that we are moved to prevent suffering, not just avenge it?"
- Eleanor Roosevetl's -
-
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you angry." - Aldous Huxley -
- As the ruthless campaign manager and GOP chairman of the 70's and 80's, Lee Atwater did for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan's and George Bush Sr's what Karl Rove did for George W. Bush. When he was stricken with brain cancer in 1991, however, he had a deathbed conversion and said :
"My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring � acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don't know who will lead us through the '90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul." (in a February 1991 article for Life Magazine )
"I was wrong to follow the meanness of Conservatism. I should have been trying to help people instead of take advantage of them. I don't hate anyone anymore. For the first time in my life I don't hate somebody. I have nothing but good feelings toward people. I've found Jesus Christ - It's that simple. He's made a difference."
"You cannot reason people out of positions they were not reasoned into.� - Jonathan Swift -
"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives."
- John Stuart Mill -
" I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. Suppose any party, in addition to whatever share it may possess of the ability of the community, has nearly the whole of its stupidity, that party must, by the law of its constitution, be the stupidest party; and I do not see why honorable gentlemen should see that position as at all offensive to them, for it ensures their being always an extremely powerful party . . . There is so much dense, solid force in sheer stupidity, that any body of able men with that force pressing behind them may ensure victory in many a struggle, and many a victory the Conservative party has gained through that power."
- John Stuart Mill ( British philosopher, economist, and liberal member of Parliament for Westminster from 1865 to 68 ).
"Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence.
Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear."
( Dictionary : tempered="made less intense or violent"
William Gladstone ( four-time Prime Minister of Great Britain.)
"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph."
- Haile Selassie I
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." & "When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative." & "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. . . We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." Letter from Birmingham Jail, Jan. 1963 & "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" Martin Luther King, a model "Liberal Like Christ".
"Liberalism, above all, means emancipation - emancipation from one's fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination, from poverty."
&
"The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life - the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."
- Hubert H. Humphrey -
"All truth passes through three stages:
first, it is ridiculed;
second, it is violently opposed; and
third, it is accepted as self-evident".
(the German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
"A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel."
- Robert Frost -
"A liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future."
- Leonard Bernstein -
"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."
- Mark Twain -
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
- George Washington -
"All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one Workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince."
- Plato
"That liberty [is pure] which is to go to all, and not to the few or the rich alone."
- Thomas Jefferson to Horatio Gates, 1798.
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
&
�These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people�
- Abraham Lincoln -
"Service is the rent we pay for the life we have been given."
- Marian Wright Edelman -
"All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Lord Acton, one of the England's greatest Catholic liberal thinkers, in a letter to fellow Catholic, Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1887
On November 28, 1972, the New York Post reported these words, written by Albert Einstein :
"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.- " (the essence of "conservatism)
"This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection to a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. (the essence of "liberalism")
Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
- Albert Einstein -
"First, each person should enjoy equally a full array of basic liberties. Second, public policy should raise as high as possible the social and economic well-being of society's worst-off individuals."
- John Rawls, political philosopher, in A Theory of Justice.
" I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
- Thomas Jefferson
"They that can give up essential liberty for a little safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin -
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."
- William Butler Yeats' poem,The Second Coming,
"The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities, and for this reason, the heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head."
- Noah Webster
"For in every city (nation) these two opposite parties (people vs aristocracy) are to be found, arising from the desire of the populace to avoid oppression of the great, and the desire of the great to command and oppress the people. . .
" When the nobility see that they are unable to resist (control) the people, they come together (organize) to exalt one of their number and make him a prince, so as to be able to carry out their own designs under the shadow of his authority."
(Machiavelli, The Prince, ch. IX)
"In a Democracy, it is the indigent, rather than
the men of property, who are the rulers." &
"It is also in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion."
"Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved."
Aristotle
"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side." Aristotle
"The majestic equality of the law forbids the rich, as well as the poor, to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."
Anatole France
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson -
"In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant."
&
"In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country, or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate."
- President Charles De
Gaulle -
No Man is an Island : John Dunne's Meditation XVII:
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume. When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated . . . As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon,
calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come.
So this bell calls us all; but how much more me,
who am brought so near the door by this sickness.
No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
for I am involved in mankind, and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee." - John Donne - (1572-1631)
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
- Dr. Seuss -
"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."
President George Washington on liberalism:
"Unless you become more watchful in your States and
check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges,
you will in the end find that the most important powers of Government
have been given or bartered away, and
the control of your dearest interests have been
passed into the hands of these corporations."
Andrew Jackson's farewell address, 4 March 1837.
The following is a video made of Douglas' own voice in 1962 of a famous speech made by Canada's most respected person, the beloved liberal Premier, Tommy Douglas, about a fictitious "Mouseland".
Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower (in a letter to his brother Edgar on November 8, 1954)
"...liberalism is our best and only hope in the world today. For the liberal society is a free society, and it is at the same time and for that reason a strong society. Its strength is drawn from the will of free people committed to great ends and peacefully striving to meet them. Only liberalism, in short, can repair our national power, restore our national purpose, and liberate our national energies.
What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label 'liberal?' If by 'liberal' they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "liberal." 
I'm proud to say I'm a 'liberal.' " President John F. Kennedy
"Democrats (I think to myself) are liberals who believe the people are basically good, but that they need government help to organize their lives. They believe in freedom so fervently that they think it should be compulsory. They believe that the poor and ignorant are victims of an unfair system and that their circumstances can be improved if we give them help.
Republicans (I think to myself) are conservatives who think it would be best if we faced the fact that people are no damned good. They think that if we admit that we have selfish, acquisitive natures and then set out to get all we can for ourselves by working hard for it, that things will be better for everyone. They are not insensitive to the poor, but tend to think the poor are impoverished because they won't work. They think there would be fewer of them to feel sorry for if the government did not encourage the proliferation of the least fit among us with welfare programs."
Andy Rooney:
Jimmy Carter on human rights
From 1901 until 1906, Robert M. La Follette served as Governor of Wisconsin. While governor, he was a member of "the Party of Lincoln" when that party still had remnants of liberalism in it. He championed numerous progressive reforms, including the first workers' compensation system, railroad rate reform, direct legislation, municipal home rule, open government, the minimum wage, non-partisan elections, the open primary system, direct election of U.S. Senators, women's suffrage, and progressive taxation.
But he was too liberal for the Republican Party of his day and eventually started the "Progressive Party", as there was little room in either major party of his time for true liberals or progressives.
La Follette spent the remainder of his life, from 1906 until his death in 1925, in the United States Senate, where he strongly opposed U.S. involvement in World War I, and campaigned for child labor laws, social security, women's suffrage, and other reforms. He opposed the prosecution of Eugene V. Debs and other opponents of the war and played a key role in initiating the investigation of the Teapot Dome Scandal during the Harding Administration.
Fiorello LaGuardia was one of the most beloved mayors to ever govern New York city. He governed the country's largest city in much the same way as F.D.R. was governing the country, in the early 30's. He once said:
"This country is blessed with a rich supply of coal.
It is not the invention of any one man. It is God's gift
to (all) the people of America. It requires human labor
to dig the coal, bring it back from the bowels of the earth so
it may be used for the benefit of mankind . . .
The government should (take) such actions as eventually will
put the government in possession of the gift of God that surely
was intended to be used for the benefit of all American people."
So spoke one of the best loved of all
Republicans in the 20th century! A liberal Democrat couldn't have said it better.
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