Left-wingers are incapable of conspiring because they’re all egomaniacs.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
Conservatism makes no poetry, breathes no prayer, has no invention; it is all memory. Reform has no gratitude, no prudence, no husbandry.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Liberalism, above all, means emancipation – emancipation from one’s fears, his inadequacies, from prejudice, from discrimination, from poverty.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Before we blame we should first see whether we cannot excuse.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
The most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom amongst us is the compact majority.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Liberalism—it is well to recall this today—is the supreme form of generosity; it is the right which the majority concedes to minorities and hence it is the noblest cry that has ever resounded in this planet. It announces the determination to share existence with the enemy; more than that, with an enemy which is weak.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
A liberal is man who will give away everything he doesn’t own.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
The label of liberalism is hardly a sentence to public ignominy: otherwise Bruce Springsteen would still be rehabilitating used Cadillacs in Asbury Park and Jane Fonda, for all we know, would be just another overweight housewife.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b.1941) American Social Critic, Essayist
Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Liberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
Liberalism, austere in political trifles, has learned ever more artfully to unite a constant protest against the government with a constant submission to it.
—Alexander Herzen (1812–70) Russian Revolutionary, Writer
The liberal holds that he is true to the republic when he is true to himself. (It may not be as cozy an attitude as it sounds.) He greets with enthusiasm the fact of the journey, as a dog greets a man’s invitation to take a walk. And he acts in the dog’s way too, swinging wide, racing ahead, doubling back, covering many miles of territory that the man never traverses, all in the spirit of inquiry and the zest for truth. He leaves a crazy trail, but he ranges far beyond the genteel old party he walks with and he is usually in a better position to discover a skunk.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
A liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future.
—Leonard Bernstein (1918–90) American Composer, Conductor
Of all the varieties of virtue, liberality is the most beloved.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
If a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged, a liberal is a conservative who’s been arrested
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–38) American Novelist
I am also very proud to be a liberal. Why is that so terrible these days? The liberals were liberators—they fought slavery, fought for women to have the right to vote, fought against Hitler, Stalin, fought to end segregation, fought to end apartheid. Liberals put an end to child labor and they gave us the five day work week! What’s to be ashamed of?
—Barbra Streisand (b.1942) American Musician, Actor, Songwriter
The hard-core intentionalist expresses only the most remote concern for consequences – usually, some vague, distant utopia. But this is, in most cases, a rationalization. His real satisfaction comes from a sense of doing the right thing – even when right has, in his mind, no clear connection with reality.
—Robert Bidinotto (b.1949) American Novelist, Journalist
As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
A liberal is a socialist with a wife and two children.
—Unknown
The Liberals have many tails, and chase them all
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The principle feature of American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things—war and hunger and date rape—liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things. It’s a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don’t have to be brave, smart, strong or even lucky to join it, you just have to be liberal.
—P. J. O’Rourke (1947–2022) American Journalist, Political Satirist
Conservative. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from a Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
There are two kinds of liberalism. A liberalism which is always, subterraneously authoritative and paternalistic, on the side of one’s good conscience. And then there is a liberalism which is more ethical than political; one would have to find another name for this. Something like a profound suspension of judgment.
—Roland Barthes (1915–80) French Writer, Critic, Teacher
My objection to Liberalism is this—that it is the introduction into the practical business of life of the highest kind—namely, politics—of philosophical ideas instead of political principles.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.
—William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98) English Liberal Statesman, Prime Minister
We who are liberal and progressive know that the poor are our equals in every sense except that of being equal to us.
—Lionel Trilling (1905–75) American Literary Critic