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The commercial spirit is the spirit of profit, not patriotism of credit, not honor of individual gain, not national prosperity of trade and dickering, not principle.

Lincoln Steffens

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Lincoln Steffens
Age: 70 †
Born: 1866
Born: April 6
Died: 1936
Died: August 9
Autobiographer
Journalist
San Francisco County
California
Lincoln Austin Steffens
National
Commercial
Trade
Patriotism
Honor
Gain
Principles
Prosperity
Individual
Principle
Spirit
Profit
Gains
Credit

More quotes by Lincoln Steffens

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It is privilege that causes evil in the world, not wickedness, and not men.
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If we would leave parties to the politicians, and would vote not for the party, not even for men, but for the city, and the State, and the nation, we should rule parties, and cities, and States, and nation.
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My father was slower, but he was severer than my mother, who was quick but light and irregular in discipline.
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If we would vote in mass on the more promising ticket, or, if the two are equally bad, would throw out the party that is in, and wait till the next election and then throw out the other party that is in - then, I say, the commercial politician would feel a demand for good government and he would supply it.
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I have been contending all my life, and always with God.
Lincoln Steffens
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I never heard a Christian sermon preached in a church.
Lincoln Steffens
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Why is it that the less intelligence people have, the more spiritual they are? They seem to fill all the vacant, ignorant spaces in their heads with soul. Which explains how it is that the less knowledge they have, the more religion.
Lincoln Steffens
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In all cities, the better classes - the business men - are the sources of corruption, but they are so rarely pursued and caught that we do not fully realize whence the trouble comes.
Lincoln Steffens
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Boston has carried the practice of hypocrisy to the n-th degree of refinement, grace, and failure.
Lincoln Steffens
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Chicago will give you a chance. The sporting spirit is the spirit of Chicago.
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Power is what men seek, and any group that gets it will abuse it. It is the same story.
Lincoln Steffens
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Whenever anything extraordinary is done in American municipal politics, whether for good or for evil, you can trace it almost invariably to one man. The people do not do it. Neither do the 'gangs,' 'combines,' or political parties.
Lincoln Steffens
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The best picture has not yet been painted the greatest poem is still unsung the mightiest novel remains to be written the divinest music has not been conceived, even by Bach. In science, probably ninety-nine percent of the knowable has not yet been discovered.
Lincoln Steffens
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The Soviet government sprouted and grew out of the habits, the psychology, and the condition of the Russian people. It fitted them. They understand it.
Lincoln Steffens
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The doctrine of Jesus is the most revolutionary propaganda that I have ever encountered.
Lincoln Steffens
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It is possible to get an education at a university. It has been done not often.
Lincoln Steffens
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One improvement I have learned from my childhood experience with my father: I do not threaten punishment in the morning. That was awful. Late into the night I would lie awake tossing and wondering what he was going to do to me. Usually he did nothing. A quiet, impressive 'talking to' was all I got.
Lincoln Steffens
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Revolt is not reform, and one revolutionary administration is not good government.
Lincoln Steffens
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My father seemed always to know not only what I was doing, but what I was being.
Lincoln Steffens
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I let my boy go and do and say pretty much as he likes, as, and perhaps because, my father kept no string on me.
Lincoln Steffens