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Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort it brings.

Walter Lippmann

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Walter Lippmann
Age: 85 †
Born: 1889
Born: September 23
Died: 1974
Died: December 14
Journalist
Politician
Writer
New York City
New York
Freedom
Assurances
Littles
Consoling
Little
Preferred
Men
Assurance
Brings
Authority
Economy
Effort

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Men are mortal, but ideas are immortal.
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The writers who have nothing to say, are the ones you can buy, the others have too high a price.
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And the principle which distinguishes democracy from all other forms of government is that in a democracy the opposition not only is tolerated as constitutional but must be maintained because it is in fact indispensable.
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Ages when custom is unsettled are necessarily ages of prophecy. The moralist cannot teach what is revealed he must reveal what can be taught. He has to seek insight rather than to preach.
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Successful ... politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies.
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There is nothing so bad but it can masquerade as moral.
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Men command fewer words than they have ideas to express, and language, as Jean Paul said, is a dictionary of faded metaphors.
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The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority.
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Genius sees the dynamic purpose first, find reasons afterward.
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The present crisis of Western democracy is a crisis in journalism.
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Whatever truth you contribute to the world will be one lucky shot in a thousand misses. You cannot be right by holding your breath and taking precautions.
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Without criticism and reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern.
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Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.
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A really good diplomat does not go in for victories, even when he wins them.
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Happiness cannot be the reward of virtue it must be the intelligible consequence of it.
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Freedom to speak... can be maintained only by promoting debate.
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Every man whose business it is to think knows that he must for part of the day create about himself a pool of silence.
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Modern men are afraid of the past. It is a record of human achievement, but its other face is human defeat.
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There is but one bond of peace that is both permanent and enriching: The increasing knowledge of the world in which experiment occurs.
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Men can know more than their ancestors did if they start with a knowledge of what their ancestors had already learned....That is why a society can be progressive only if it conserves its traditions.
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