Raymond Aron Quotes

• Despotism has so often been established in the name of liberty that experience should warn us to judge parties by their practices rather than their preachings.

  Raymond Aron

  Party, Practice, Names

  Raymond Aron (2011). “The Opium of the Intellectuals”, p.97, Transaction Publishers

  61 Copy quote

• What passes for optimism is most often the effect of an intellectual error.

  Raymond Aron

  Errors, Optimism, Intelligence

  Raymond Aron (2017). “The Opium of the Intellectuals”, p.156, Routledge

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• In a way, all sociologists are akin to Marxists because of their inclination to settle everyone's accounts but their own.

  Raymond Aron

  Way, Settling, Marxist

  1971 Politics and History.

  23 Copy quote

• The intellectual who no longer feels attached to anything is not satisfied with opinion merely; he wants certainty, he wants a system. The revolution provides him with his opium.

  Raymond Aron

  Intellectual, Atheism, Want

  Raymond Aron (2001). “The Opium of the Intellectuals”, p.257, Transaction Publishers

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• Racism is the snobbery of the poor.

  Raymond Aron

  Racism, Poor, Snobbery

  Raymond Aron (1968). “Progress and Disillusion: The Dialectics of Modern Society”

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• Intellectuals cannot tolerate the chance event, the unintelligible: they have a nostalgia for the absolute, for a universally comprehensive scheme.

  Raymond Aron

  Atheism, Events, Chance

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• Peace is impossible, war is improbable.

  Raymond Aron

  War, Impossible, Improbable

  Raymond Aron (1997). “Thinking Politically: A Liberal in the Age of Ideology”, p.227, Transaction Publishers

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• In writing if it takes over 30 minutes to write the first two paragraphs select another subject.

  Raymond Aron

  Writing, Two, Firsts

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• Skepticism cannot be revolutionary, even though it speaks the language of revolution.

  Raymond Aron

  Revolution, Language, Speak

  Raymond Aron (1957). “The Opium of the Intellectuals”, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday

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• Foreknowledge of the future makes it possible to manipulate both enemies and supporters.

  Raymond Aron

  Future, Enemy, Manipulation

  The Opium of the Intellectuals Chapter IX (p. 284}

  8 Copy quote

• Political thought in France is either nostalgic or Utopian.

  Raymond Aron

  Political, France, Nostalgic

  Raymond Aron (2011). “The Opium of the Intellectuals”, p.31, Transaction Publishers

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