Irving Babbitt Quotes

Quotes about:

• Anyone who thus looks up has some chance of becoming worthy to be looked up to in turn.

  Irving Babbitt

  Looks, Becoming, Chance

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.113, Transaction Publishers

  45 Copy quote

• Commercialism is laying its great greasy paw upon everything including the irresponsible quest of thrills; so that, whatever democracy may be theoretically, one is sometimes tempted to define it practically as standardized and commercialized melodrama.

  Irving Babbitt

  Democracy, Quests, May

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.138, Transaction Publishers

  16 Copy quote

• For behind all imperialism is ultimately the imperialistic individual, just as behind all peace is ultimately the peaceful individual.

  Irving Babbitt

  Love, Peace, Imperialism

  21 Copy quote

• A person who has sympathy for mankind in the lump, faith in its future progress, and desire to serve the great cause of this progress, should be called not a humanist, but a humanitarian, and his creed may be designated as humanitarianism.

  Irving Babbitt

  Humanity, Desire, Progress

  Irving Babbitt (1908). “Literature and the American college: essays in defense of the humanities”

  13 Copy quote

• It is well to open one's mind but only as a preliminary to closing it ... for the supreme act of judgment and selection.

  Irving Babbitt

  Mind, Judgment, Closing

  7 Copy quote

• If quantitatively the American achievement is impressive, qualitatively it is somewhat less satisfying.

  Irving Babbitt

  Achievement, Impressive, Satisfying

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.136, Transaction Publishers

  7 Copy quote

• Furthermore, America suffers not only from a lack of standards, but also not infrequently from a confusion or an inversion of standards.

  Irving Babbitt

  America, Confusion, Suffering

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.136, Transaction Publishers

  12 Copy quote

• A man needs to look, not down, but up to standards set so much above his ordinary self as to make him feel that he is himself spiritually the underdog.

  Irving Babbitt

  Men, Self, Standards Set

  Irving Babbitt, George Andrew Panichas (1981). “Irving Babbitt, representative writings”, Univ of Nebraska Pr

  9 Copy quote

• A democracy, the realistic observer is forced to conclude, is likely to be idealistic in its feelings about itself, but imperialistic about its practice.

  Irving Babbitt

  Practice, Feelings, Democracy

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.154, Transaction Publishers

  8 Copy quote

• Perhaps as good a classification as any of the main types is that of the three lusts distinguished by traditional Christianity - the lust of knowledge, the lust of sensation, and the lust of power.

  Irving Babbitt

  Lust, Three, Christianity

  8 Copy quote

• Tell him, on the contrary, that he needs, in the interest of his own happiness, to walk in the path of humility and self-control, and he will be indifferent, or even actively resentful.

  Irving Babbitt

  Humility, Self, Needs

  7 Copy quote

• The humanitarian would, of course, have us meddle in foreign affairs as part of his program of world service.

  Irving Babbitt

  World, Affair, Humanitarian

  7 Copy quote

• An American of the present day reading his Sunday newspaper in a state of lazy collapse is one of the most perfect symbols of the triumph of quantity over quality that the world has yet seen.

  Irving Babbitt

  Reading, Sunday, Perfect

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.112, Transaction Publishers

  8 Copy quote

• The industrial revolution has tended to produce everywhere great urban masses that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards.

  Irving Babbitt

  Ethical Standards, Revolution, Urban

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.139, Transaction Publishers

  10 Copy quote

• A remarkable feature of the humanitarian movement, on both its sentimental and utilitarian sides, has been its preoccupation with the lot of the masses.

  Irving Babbitt

  Movement, Sides, Sentimental

  8 Copy quote

• Act strenuously, would appear to be our faith, and right thinking will take care of itself.

  Irving Babbitt

  Thinking, Care, Take Care

  Irving Babbitt (1908). “Literature and the American college: essays in defense of the humanities”

  5 Copy quote

• We may affirm, then, that the main drift of the later Renaissance was away from a humanism that favored a free expansion toward a humanism that was in the highest degree disciplinary and selective.

  Irving Babbitt

  Expansion, Degrees, Renaissance

  Irving Babbitt (1908). “Literature and the American college: essays in defense of the humanities”

  8 Copy quote

• To say that most of us today are purely expansive is only another way of saying that most of us continue to be more concerned with the quantity than with the quality of our democracy.

  Irving Babbitt

  Democracy, Quality, Today

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.110, Transaction Publishers

  4 Copy quote

• Inasmuch as society cannot go on without discipline of some kind, men were constrained, in the absence of any other form of discipline, to turn to discipline of the military type.

  Irving Babbitt

  Military, Men, Kind Man

  7 Copy quote

• The democratic idealist is prone to make light of the whole question of standards and leadership because of his unbounded faith in the plain people.

  Irving Babbitt

  Light, People, Standards

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.150, Transaction Publishers

  7 Copy quote

• The ultimate binding element in the medieval order was subordination to the divine will and its earthly representatives, notably the pope.

  Irving Babbitt

  Order, Elements, Divine Will

  7 Copy quote

• We must not, however, be like the leaders of the great romantic revolt who, in their eagerness to get rid of the husk of convention, disregarded also the humane aspiration.

  Irving Babbitt

  Romantic Love, Leader, Conventions

  Irving Babbitt (1908). “Literature and the American college: essays in defense of the humanities”

  8 Copy quote

• According to the new ethics, virtue is not restrictive but expansive, a sentiment and even an intoxication.

  Irving Babbitt

  Sentimental, Ethics, Virtue

  8 Copy quote

• If a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama.

  Irving Babbitt

  Men, Essence, Democracy

  Irving Babbitt (2005). “On Literature, Cultures, and Religion”, p.112, Transaction Publishers

  10 Copy quote

• To harmonize the One with the Many, this is indeed a difficult adjustment, perhaps the most difficult of all, and so important, withal, that nations have perished from their failure to achieve it.

  Irving Babbitt

  Failure, Important, Achieve

  4 Copy quote

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