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Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Roger Scruton Quotes

“In literary representation, the distinction between the genuinely erotic and the licentious is a distinction not of subject-matter, but of perspective. The genuinely erotic work is one which invites the reader to re-create in imagination the first-person point of view of someone party to an erotic encounter. The pornographic work retains as a rule the third-person perspective of the voyeuristic observer.”

FirstsPersonsMatterImaginationViewsPartySubjectsPerspectiveReaderThirdsPoint Of ViewEncountersDistinctionInvitesRepresentationObserversPornographyEroticSubject MatterFirst PersonThird Person
Book:Sexual Desire: A Philosophical Investigation
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“It is not the truth of Marxism that explains the willingness of intellectuals to believe it, but the power that it confers on intellectuals, in their attempts to control the world. And since, as Swift says, it is futile to reason someone out of a thing that he was not reasoned into, we can conclude that Marxism owes its remarkable power to survive every criticism to the fact that it is not a truth-directed but a power-directed system of thought.”

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Author:Roger Scruton
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“In place of the old beliefs of a civilization based on godliness, judgment and historical loyalty, young people are given the new beliefs of a society based on equality and inclusion, and are told that the judgment of other lifestyles is a crime. ... The "non-judgmental" attitude towards other cultures goes hand-in-hand with a fierce denunciation of the culture that might have been one's own”

PeopleHas BeensHandsMightYoungCultureBeliefGivenAttitudeCrimeCivilizationJudgmentHistoricalLoyaltyLifestyleInclusionFierceMight Have BeenHand In HandGodlinessJudgmentalMental AttitudeOther CulturesJudgment Of OthersNon Judgmental
Author:Roger Scruton
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“Were we to aim in every case at the kind of supreme beauty exemplified by Sta Maria della Salute, we should end with aesthetic overload. The clamorous masterpieces, jostling for attention side by side, would lose their distinctiveness, and the beauty of each of them would be at war with the beauty of the rest.”

ShouldKindWarEndsWould BeSidesLosesAttentionCasesAimSupremeAestheticMasterpieceSaluteOverload
Book:Beauty: A Very Short Introduction
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“To speak of beauty is to enter another and more exalted realm-a realm sufficiently apart from our everyday concerns as to be mentioned only with a certain hesitation. People who are always in praise and pursuit of the beautiful are an embarrassment, like people who make a constant display of their religious faith. Somehow, we feel such things should be kept for our exalted moments, and not paraded in company, or allowed to spill out over dinner.”

PeopleFeelsShouldMomentsBeautifulCertainSpeakReligiousCompanyConcernPraiseConstantEverydayDinnerPursuitRealmsDisplayReligious FaithEmbarrassmentHesitationExaltedSpills
Book:Beauty: A Very Short Introduction
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“Beauty can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. It can affect us in an unlimited variety of ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference: beauty demands to be noticed; it speaks to us directly like the voice of an intimate friend. If there are people who are indifferent to beauty, then it is surely because they do not perceive it.”

PeopleIfsWaySpeakVoiceBeautyDemandSacredVarietyPerceiveIndifferenceIntimateIndifferentUnlimitedChillDisturbingExhilaratingProfaneConsolingHealth BeautyIntimate Friends
Book:Beauty: A Very Short Introduction
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“There’s a real question as to what beauty is and why it’s important to us. Many pseudo-philosophers try to answer these questions and tell us they’re not really answerable. I draw on art and literature, and music in particular, because music is a wonderful example of something that’s in this world but not of this world. Great works of music speak to us from another realm even though they speak to us in ordinary physical sounds.”

WorldTryingArtImportantRealLiteratureSpeakSoundAnswersWonderfulExampleThis WorldParticularMusic IsDrawsOrdinaryPhilosopherRealmsGreat WorkPseudoReal QuestionsMusic SpeaksLiterature And Music
Author:Roger Scruton
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“The welfare state that is built upon this conception seems to prove precisely away from the conservative conception of authoritative and personal government, towards a labyrinthine privilege sodden structure of anonymous power, structuring a citizenship that is increasingly reluctant to answer for itself, increasingly parasitic on the dispensations of a bureaucracy towards which it can feel no gratitude.”

FeelsStatesSeemsGovernmentAnswersGratitudeProveBuiltStructurePrivilegeConservativeWelfareConceptionApathyCitizenshipBureaucracyReluctantWelfare State
Author:Roger Scruton
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