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
The liberals can understand everything but people who don’t understand them.
—Lenny Bruce (1925–66) American Comedian, Writer, Social Critic, Satirist
Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they’ve stolen.
—Mort Sahl (1927–2021) American Comedian, Political Satirist
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
If you’re a liberal, anything you say is protected. If you’re a conservative, anything you say is hateful.
—Laura Schlessinger (b.1947) American Radio Talk-Show Host, Author
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
A liberal is a power worshipper without the power.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
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
Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom amongst us is the compact majority.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
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
Of all the varieties of virtue, liberality is the most beloved.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
The liberals have not softened their view of actuality to make themselves live closer to the dream, but instead sharpen their perceptions and fight to make the dream actuality or give up the battle in despair.
—Margaret Mead (1901–78) American Anthropologist, Social Psychologist
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
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
I never dared to be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
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
A liberal is a socialist with a wife and two children.
—Unknown
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 (1941–2022) American Social Critic, Essayist
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
Before we blame we should first see whether we cannot excuse.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
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
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
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
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
A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal as opposed to the conservative, who has both feet firmly planted in his mouth
—Jacques Barzun (b.1907) American Cultural Historian, Philosopher
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
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
Any attempt at a rational discussion of the economic realities of government-controlled medical care is almost certain to run up against the trump card of the political left: The Poor.
The image that is often invoked is that of the elderly poor, forced to choose between food and medical treatment. Who could be so heartless as to abandon them to the vagaries of the free market?
This has proved to be a very effective political strategy for extending government power, not only over medical care but also over housing and other sectors of the economy.The phoniness of this argument becomes apparent the moment you suggest that money be set aside specifically for dealing with the special problems of the poor, rather than bringing whole sectors of the economy under the dominance of politicians, bureaucrats and judges.
The amount of money needed to take care of the poor is often some minute fraction of what sweeping new government programs cost. But, while big government liberals are willing to use the poor as human shields in their political battles, their more basic strategy is to proclaim that everyone has a right to some basic need that they want the government to provide.
As a matter of practical politics, programs for the poor alone do not have as large a constituency as programs to give everybody some benefit, so that we can all have the illusion of getting something for nothing
—Thomas Sowell (b.1930) American Conservative Economist, Political Commentator
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