Irving Kristol Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• As a result of the efforts of Hayek .. and the many others who share his general outlook, the idea of a centrally planned and centrally administered economy, so popular in the 1930s and early 1940s, has been discredited.

  Irving Kristol

  Ideas, Effort, Hayek

  Irving Kristol (1999). “Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea”, Ivan R Dee

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• Power breeds responsibilities, in international affairs as in domestic - or even private. To dodge or disclaim these responsibilities is one form of the abuse of power.

  Irving Kristol

  Responsibility, Abuse, Dodge

  New York Times Magazine, May 12, 1968.

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• .. the most intelligent defender of capitalism in the modern period is Friedrich Hayek.

  Irving Kristol

  Intelligent, Hayek, Modern

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• Somehow, the fact that more poor people are on welfare, receiving more generous payments, does not seem to have made this country a nice place to live - not even for the poor on welfare, whose condition seems not noticeably better than when they were poor and off welfare. Something appears to have gone wrong; a liberal and compassionate social policy has bred all sorts of unanticipated and perverse consequences.

  Irving Kristol

  Country, Nice, People

  Irving Kristol (1995). “Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea”, p.48, Simon and Schuster

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• The trouble with traditional American conservatism is that it lacks a naturally cheerful, optimistic disposition. Not only does it lack one, it regards signs of one as evidence of unsoundness, irresponsibility.

  Irving Kristol

  Optimistic, Cheerful, Doe

  Wall Street Journal, November 18, 1985.

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• One can be unhappy before eating caviar, even after, but at least not during.

  Irving Kristol

  Unhappy, Caviar, Eating

  28 Copy quote

• The problem is efforts by liberals to establish a wall between religion and society, in the guise of maintaining the wall between church and state.

  Irving Kristol

  Christian, Religious, Wall

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• Joining a radical movement when one is young is very much like falling in love when one is young. The girl may turn out to be rotten, but the the experience of love is so valuable it can never be entirely undone by the ultimate disenchantment.

  Irving Kristol

  Girl, Falling In Love, Love Is

  Irving Kristol (1995). “Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea”, p.470, Simon and Schuster

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• Neocons do not feel that kind of alarm or anxiety about the growth of the state in the past century, seeing it as natural, indeed inevitable ... People have always preferred strong government to weak government, although they certainly have no liking for anything that smacks of overly intrusive government.

  Irving Kristol

  Strong, Past, Government

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• You have to know one big thing and stick with it. The leaders who had one very big idea and one very big commitment. This permitted them to create something. Those are the ones who leave a legacy.

  Irving Kristol

  Commitment, Ideas, Leader

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• Young people, especially, are looking for religion so desperately that they are inventing new ones. They should not have to invent new ones; the old religions are pretty good.

  Irving Kristol

  People, Should, Young

  Irving Kristol (1983). “Reflections of a neoconservative: looking back, looking ahead”, Basic Books (AZ)

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• Anyone who knows anything about journalism knows that reporters are rarely in a position to investigate anything. They lack the authority to subpoena witnesses, to cross-examine, to scrutinize official records. They are lucky to get their phone calls returned.

  Irving Kristol

  Phones, Media, Lucky

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• I regard myself to have been a young Trostkyite and I have not a single bitter memory.

  Irving Kristol

  Memories, Bitter, Young

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• There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work.

  Irving Kristol

  Children, People, Adults

  "Origin of the Specious" by Ronald Bailey, reason.com. July 1997.

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• I have observed over the years that the unanticipated consequences of social action are always more important, and usually less agreeable, than the intended consequences.

  Irving Kristol

  Years, Important, Action

  "On the Democratic Idea in America". Book by Irving Kristol, 1972.

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• If your aims as a donor are modest, you can accomplish an awful lot. When your aims become elevated beyond a reasonable level, you not only don't accomplish much, but you can cause a great deal of damage.

  Irving Kristol

  Levels, Awful, Damage

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• [Conservatism:] Our revolutionary message... is that a self-disciplined people can create a political community in which an ordered liberty will promote both economic prosperity and political participation.

  Irving Kristol

  Self, People, Community

  Irving Kristol's essay in "American Spectator Magazine", 1977.

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• What rules the world is idea, because ideas define the way reality is perceived.

  Irving Kristol

  Reality, Ideas, World

  Irving Kristol (1995). “Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea”, p.233, Simon and Schuster

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• There is nothing like a parade to elicit the proper respect for the military from the populace.

  Irving Kristol

  Military, Parades

  "The New York Intellectuals: From Vanguard to Institution". Book by Hugh Wilford, 1995.

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• People need religion. It's a vehicle for a moral tradition. A crucial role. Nothing can take its place.

  Irving Kristol

  Inspirational, Life, People

  Reason Magazine Interview, 1983.

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