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Richard M. Weaver

Richard M. Weaver Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Richard M. Weaver Quotes

“The most likely way to kill a tradition is to over-formalize it, which is to carry it on in the same way after everyone has ceased to defer to it. The way to revive it is to show that it has grown out of and is still related to our most cherished values. But this requires radical insight and the stripping away of many things which are mere accretions.”

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Book:In defense of tradition: collected shorter writings of Richard M. Weaver, 1929-1963
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“The home was a school. Farm and cabin households, though bookless save for the Family Bible and The Sacred Harp, taught the girls to spin, weave, quilt, cook, sew, and mind their manners; the boys to wield gun, ax, hammer and saw, to ride, plow, sow and reap, and to be men. Nobody need ever be bored. Amusement did not have to be bought.”

MenNeedsMindWarHomeSchoolGirlBoysSawsTaughtGunSacredMannersCooksBoredFarmsHouseholdAmusementHammersBe A ManReapHarpsCabinsQuiltsFamily Bible
Author:Richard M. Weaver
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“In the last analysis, provincialism is your belief in yourself, in your neighborhood, in your reality. It is patriotism without belligerence. Convincing cases have been made to show that all great art is provincial in the sense of reflecting a place, a time, and a Zeitgeist.”

Has BeensArtMadeShowsRealityLastsBeliefCasesArt IsAnalysisNeighborhoodGreat ArtConvincingReflectingZeitgeistBelief In YourselfProvincialismBelligerence
Book:The Southern Essays of Richard M. Weaver
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“The disappearance of the heroic ideal is always accompanied by the growth of commercialism. There is a cause-and-effect relationship here, for the man of commerce is by the nature of things a relativist; his mind is constantly on the fluctuating values of the marketplace, and there is no surer way to fail than to dogmatize and moralize about things.”

MenWayMindValuesCausesGrowthFailingEffectsHe ManIdealsHeroicCommerceMarketplaceCause And EffectDisappearanceCommercialism
Author:Richard M. Weaver
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“The prevailing attitude towards nature is that form of heresy which denies substance and, in doing so, denies the rightfulness of creation. We have said - to the point of repletion, perhaps - that man is not to take his patterns from nature; but neither is he to waste himself in seeking to change her face.”

MenSaidFacesFormAttitudeCreationWastePatternsConservativeSeekingDenySubstanceHeresyPrevailing
Book:Ideas Have Consequences
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“The true religion, it is said, is service to mankind; but this service seems to take the form of securing for him an unconditional victory over nature. Now this attitude is impious, for, as has been noted, it violates the belief that creation or nature is fundamentally good, that the ultimate reason for its laws is a mystery, and that acts of defiance such as are daily celebrated by the newspapers are subversive of cosmos.”

Has BeensSaidReasonSeemsFormLawBeliefAttitudeMysteryMankindCreationVictoryUltimateConservativeNewspapersCosmosUnconditionalDefianceSubversiveTrue ReligionService To Mankind
Author:Richard M. Weaver
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“Triumphs against the natural order of living exact unforeseen payments. At the same time that man attempts to straighten a crooked nature, he is striving to annihilate space, which seems but another phase of the war against substance. We ignore the fact that space and matter are shock absorbers; the more we diminish them the more we reduce our privacy and security.”

MenWarMatterFactsSeemsOrderNaturalSpaceSecurityStriveConservativeTriumphSubstanceShockPrivacyPhasesDiminishPaymentCrookedNatural OrderUnforeseenShock AbsorberPrivacy And Security
Book:Ideas Have Consequences: Expanded Edition
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“Nature is not something to be fought, conquered and changed according to any human whims. To some extent, of course, it has to be used. But what man should seek in regard to nature is not a complete domination but a modus vivendi - that is, a manner of living together, a coming to terms with something that was here before our time and will be here after it. The important corollary of this doctrine, it seems to me, is that man is not the lord of creation, with an omnipotent will, but a part of creation, with limitations, who ought to observe a decent humility in the face of the inscrutable.”

MenShouldHumansImportantSeemsTogetherFacesUsedCoursesTermLordCreationChangedHumilityOughtRegardConservativeDoctrineLimitationOur TimeDecentDominationWhimOmnipotentLiving TogetherInscrutable
Author:Richard M. Weaver
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