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The common interests very largely elude public opinion entirely, and can be managed only by a specialised class.

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
Interest
Managed
Common
Largely
Entirely
Interests
Internet
Opinion
Public
Specialised
Class
Elude

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You don't have to preach honesty to men with creative purpose. Let a human being throw the engines of his soul into the making of something, and the instinct of workmanship will take care of his honesty.
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Lovers who have nothing to do but love each other are not really to be envied love and nothing else very soon is nothing else.
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No mariner ever enters upon a more uncharted sea than does the average human being born in the 20th century. Our ancestors know their way from birth through eternity we are puzzled about the day after tomorrow.
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The unions are the first feeble effort to conquer the industrial jungle for democratic life. They may not succeed, but if they don't their failure will be a tragedy for civilization, a loss of cooperative effort, a baulking of energy, and the fixing in American life of a class-structure.
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It is impossible to abolish either with a law or an axe the desires of men.
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A large plural society cannot be governed without recognizing that, transcending its plural interests, there is a rational order with a superior common law.
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Popular government has not yet been proved to guarantee, always and everywhere, good government.
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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.
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Men who are orthodox when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives.
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The wiser a man is, it seems to me, the more vividly he can see the future as part of the evolving present. He doesn't break the flow of life, he directs it, hastens it, but preserves its continuity.
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The public interest may be presumed to be what men would choose if they saw clearly, thought rationally, acted disinterestedly and benevolently.
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It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
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Whereas each man claims his freedom as a matter of right, the freedom he accords to other men is a matter of toleration.
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In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.
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The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.
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To create a minimum standard of life below which no human being can fall is the most elementary duty of the democratic state.
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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.
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A long life in journalism convinced me many presidents ago that there should be a large air space between a journalist and the head of a state.
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Unless the reformer can invent something which substitutes attractive virtues for attractive vices, he will fail.
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