"The American doctrinaire is the converse of the American demagogue, and, in this way, is scarcely less injurious to the public. The first deals in poetry, the last in cant. He is as much a visionary on one side, as the extreme theoretical democrat is a visionary on the other."

Rating:

  rate this quote
Topic: none  help us select a topic for this quote

More quotes from: James F. Cooper

• "A monarchy is the most expensive of all forms of government, the regal state requiring ..."
• "All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence ..."
• "All that a good government aims at... is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid ..."
• "Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other ..."
• "America owes most of its social prejudices to the exaggerated religious opinions of the different ..."
• "Candor is a proof of both a just frame of mind, and of a good ..."
• "Equality, in a social sense, may be divided into that of condition and that of ..."
• "If we would have civilization and the exertion indispensable to its success, we must have ..."
• "Ignorance and superstition ever bear a close and mathematical relation to each other. "
• "In America, it is indispensable that every well-wisher of true liberty should understand that acts ..."
• "Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving the citizen as much freedom of ..."
• "Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving to the citizen as much freedom ..."
• "It is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is ..."
• "It is a governing principle of nature, that the agency which can produce most good, ..."
• "It is a misfortune that necessity has induced men to accord greater license to this ..."
• "It is the besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is ..."
• "No civilized society can long exist, with an active power in its bosom that is ..."
• "Party leads to vicious, corrupt and unprofitable legislation, for the sole purpose of defeating party. "
• "Slavery is no more sinful, by the Christian code, than it is sinful to wear ..."
• "Systems are to be appreciated by their general effects, and not by particular exceptions. "
• "The affairs of life embrace a multitude of interests, and he who reasons in any ..."

• "The common faults of American language are an ambition of effect, a want of simplicity, ..."
• "The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the ..."
• "The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes, knowledge, and ..."
• "The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity. "
• "The very existence of government at all, infers inequality. The citizen who is preferred to ..."
• "They who have reasoned ignorantly, or who have aimed at effecting their personal ends by ..."
• "Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in ..."