Quote

In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents.

Walter Lippmann

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Walter Lippmann
Age: 85 †
Born: 1889
Born: September 23
Died: 1974
Died: December 14
Journalist
Politician
Writer
New York City
New York
Government
Mass
Trial
Vehemence
Always
Effects
Sentiments
Tenure
Men
Office
Perpetual
Offices
Public
Required
Constituents
Passion
Trials
Seekers
Sure
Sensitive
Sentiment
Lives
Effect
Sentimental
Political
Court
Restless

More quotes by Walter Lippmann

Image
There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.
Walter Lippmann
Image
If the estimate of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs is correct, then Russia has lost the cold war in western Europe.
Walter Lippmann
Image
Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.
Walter Lippmann
Image
Robinson Crusoe, the self-sufficient man, could not have lived in New York city.
Walter Lippmann
Image
The function of news is to signalize an event, the functionoftruth istobring to lightthehiddenfacts, toset them into relationwith each other, and make a picture of reality on which men can act.Only at those points, where social conditions take recognizable and measurable shape, do the body of truth and the body of news coincide.
Walter Lippmann
Image
The true speech of man is idiomatic, if not of the earth and sky, then at least of the saloon and the bleachers.
Walter Lippmann
Image
A rational man acting in the real world may be defined as one who decides where he will strike a balance between what he desires and what can be done.
Walter Lippmann
Image
Life is an irreversible process and for that reason its future can never be a repetition of the past.
Walter Lippmann
Image
All men desire their own perfect adjustment, but they desire it, being finite men, on their own terms.
Walter Lippmann
Image
He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.
Walter Lippmann
Image
We are all captives of the picture in our head - our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.
Walter Lippmann
Image
The balancing of present wants against the future is really the central problem of ethics.
Walter Lippmann
Image
The study of error is not only in the highest degree prophylactic, but it serves as a stimulating introduction to the study of truth.
Walter Lippmann
Image
You and I are forever at the mercy of the census-taker and the census-maker. That impertinent fellow who goes from house to house is one of the real masters of the statistical situation. The other is the man who organizes the results.
Walter Lippmann
Image
Men fall into a routine when they are tired and slack: it has all the appearance of activity with few of its burdens.
Walter Lippmann
Image
The facts we see depend on where we are placed and the habits of our eyes.
Walter Lippmann
Image
We know that it is possible to harness desire to many interests, that evil is one form of a desire, and not the nature of it.
Walter Lippmann
Image
Ignore what a man desires and you ignore the very source of his power.
Walter Lippmann
Image
We are quite rich enough to defend ourselves, whatever the cost. We must now learn that we are quite rich enough to educate ourselves as we need to be educated.
Walter Lippmann
Image
The devil is merely a fallen angel, and when God lost Satan he lost one of his best lieutenants.
Walter Lippmann