Irving Babbitt Quotes
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A remarkable feature of the humanitarian movement, on both its sentimental and utilitarian sides, has been its preoccupation with the lot of the masses.
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Democracy is now going forth on a crusade against imperialism.
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The papacy again, representing the traditional unity of European civilization, has also shown itself unable to limit effectively the push of nationalism.
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The human mind, if it is to keep its sanity, must maintain the nicest balance between unity and plurality.
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The greatest of vices according to Buddha is the lazy yielding to the impulses of temperament (pamada); the greatest virtue (appamada) is the opposite of this, the awakening from the sloth and lethargy of the senses, the constant exercise of the active will.
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The true humanist maintains a just balance between sympathy and selection.
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For behind all imperialism is ultimately the imperialistic individual, just as behind all peace is ultimately the peaceful individual.
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Furthermore, America suffers not only from a lack of standards, but also not infrequently from a confusion or an inversion of standards.
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Perhaps as good a classification as any of the main types is that of the three lusts distinguished by traditional Christianity - the lust of knowledge, the lust of sensation, and the lust of power.
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The humanitarian lays stress almost solely upon breadth of knowledge and sympathy.
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Act strenuously, would appear to be our faith, and right thinking will take care of itself.
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Tell him, on the contrary, that he needs, in the interest of his own happiness, to walk in the path of humility and self-control, and he will be indifferent, or even actively resentful.
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The ultimate binding element in the medieval order was subordination to the divine will and its earthly representatives, notably the pope.
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p. 63
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A democracy, the realistic observer is forced to conclude, is likely to be idealistic in its feelings about itself, but imperialistic about its practice.
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If quantitatively the American achievement is impressive, qualitatively it is somewhat less satisfying.
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An American of the present day reading his Sunday newspaper in a state of lazy collapse is one of the most perfect symbols of the triumph of quantity over quality that the world has yet seen.
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Inasmuch as society cannot go on without discipline of some kind, men were constrained, in the absence of any other form of discipline, to turn to discipline of the military type.
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The industrial revolution has tended to produce everywhere great urban masses that seem to be increasingly careless of ethical standards.
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The democratic idealist is prone to make light of the whole question of standards and leadership because of his unbounded faith in the plain people.
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If a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama.
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A person who has sympathy for mankind in the lump, faith in its future progress, and desire to serve the great cause of this progress, should be called not a humanist, but a humanitarian, and his creed may be designated as humanitarianism.
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True democracy consists not in lowering the standard but in giving everybody, so far as possible, a chance of measuring up to the standard.
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When the element of conversion with reference to a standard is eliminated from life, what remains is the irresponsible quest for thrills.