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To know oneself is to disbelieve utopia.

Michael Novak

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Michael Novak
Age: 83 †
Born: 1933
Born: September 9
Died: 2017
Died: February 17
Diplomat
Journalist
Philosopher
Political Scientist
Writer
Johnstown
Pennsylvania
Disbelieve
Utopia
Oneself

More quotes by Michael Novak

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What is the most effective, practical way of raising the wealth of nations? What causes wealth? I have come to think that the dream of democratic socialism is inferior to the dream of democratic capitalism, and that the latter's superiority in actual practice is undeniable.
Michael Novak
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Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the most noble possibilities of the human race. This attainment is made possible through passionate concern for choice, in an atmosphere of social trust.
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You're a sovereign as a citizen. If you're not involved in your government, you're not doing your job. In the long run that's very bad for the Republic.
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Practically every movie that shows the pope or even a bishop as a character, and in much of western literature of the last 300 or 400 years, these are portrayed as awful figures.
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Individual freedom is a Jewish idea, but it's one of the functions of Christianity to make this idea universal.
Michael Novak
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In most of history, societies have not been free. It's a very rare society that is free. The default condition of human societies is tyranny.
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We really feel happier when things look bleak. Hope is endurance. Hope is holding on and going on and trusting in the Lord.
Michael Novak
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Jews do not have to be Christians. Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism, but too utopian, too hopeful, too unrealistic a turn.
Michael Novak
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The Lord God, the creator of Judaism and the God of Judaism and Christianity, empowered our minds and gave us the ability to question.
Michael Novak
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Our Founders always wondered about how long it would last. The price of liberty is everlasting vigilance. You've got to be on your guard every minute or you will lose it.
Michael Novak
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Tradition lives because young people come along who catch its romance and add new glories to it.
Michael Novak
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Sports is, somehow, a religion.
Michael Novak
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Sports events do not really exist at all unless there is a certain order and fairness - justice in each event.
Michael Novak
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Love is not a feeling of happiness. Love is a willingness to sacrifice.
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Don't be afraid of anything. We've seen so much suffering and evil in the 20th century and we got through it. We can go on. God is with us. God will help us. Trust Him.
Michael Novak
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Our capacity for self-deception has no known limits
Michael Novak
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I need not to be afraid of the void. The void is part of my person. I need to enter consciously into it. To try to escape from it is to try to live a lie. It is also to cease to be. My acceptance of despair and emptiness constitutes my being to have the courage to accept despair is to be.
Michael Novak
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Marriage, the family unit, was the original Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Michael Novak
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Everything I do that I'm enthusiastic about. This is genuine enthusiasm. If I don't - I mean I've done other projects that I have not been a fan of until I realized I was doing it and I wasn't really there. And I don't do those anymore.
Michael Novak
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Granted that I must die, how shall I live?
Michael Novak