Quotessence
Home / Books / The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot

The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot

Book by Russell Kirk · 11 quotes · Conservative, Men, Appetite

Filter quotes by topic

AllConservativeMenAppetiteConservatismForceIfsModernOrderPrejudicePropertyReverenceSpiritTraditionAmbitionCentralizationCenturyCharacterConfusionEndsFragments

The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot Quotes

“Even the wisest of mankind cannot live by reason alone; pure arrogant reason, denying the claims of prejudice (which commonly are also the claims of conscience), leads to a wasteland of withered hopes and crying loneliness, empty of God and man: the wilderness in which Satan tempted Christ was not more dreadful than the arid expanse of intellectual vanity deprived of tradition and intuition, where modern man is tempted by his own pride.”

MenReasonChristModernMankindLonelinessCryPridePureIntellectualConscienceTraditionEmptyClaimsPrejudiceIntuitionVanitySatanWildernessLive ByArrogantTemptedDeprivedWisestModern ManWitheredExpanseWasteland
Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
Create image

“True conformity to the dictates of nature requires reverence for the past and solicitude for the future. 'Nature' is not simply the sensation of the passing moment; it is eternal, though we evanescent men experience only a fragment of it. We have no right to imperil the happiness of posterity by impudently tinkering with the heritage of humanity.”

MenMomentsPastHumanityEternalConservativePassingPassingsSensationsConformityHeritageReverenceFragmentsPosterityTinkeringSolicitudePassing Moments
Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
Create image

“If men are discharged of reverence for ancient usage, they will treat this world, almost certainly, as if it were their private property, to be consumed for their sensual gratification; and thus they will destroy in their lust for enjoyment the property of future generations, of their own contemporaries, and indeed their very own capital.”

IfsMenWorldGenerationsThis WorldTreatsPropertyAncientConservativeLustSensualEnjoymentReverenceConsumedGratificationFuture GenerationPrivate PropertyUsage
Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
Create image

“To check centralization and usurping of power ... we require a new laissez-faire. The old laissez-faire was founded upon a misapprehension of human nature, an exultation of individuality (in private character often a virtue) to the condition of a political dogma, which destroyed the spirit of community and reduced men to so many equipollent atoms of humanity, without sense of brotherhood or purpose.”

MenHumansCharacterPoliticalSpiritPurposeHumanityCommunityVirtueConditionsHuman NatureIndividualityConservativeChecksDestroyedAtomsBrotherhoodDogmaLaissez FaireCentralization
Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
Create image

“Prejudice is not bigotry or superstition, although prejudice sometimes may degenerate into these. Prejudice is pre-judgment, the answer with which intuition and ancestral consensus of opinion supply a man when he lacks either time or knowledge to arrive at a decision predicated upon pure reason.”

MenMaySometimesReasonDecisionAnswersOpinionPureJudgmentPrejudiceIntuitionBigotrySuperstitionsConsensusDegenerates
Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
Create image