“Either order in the cosmos is real, or all is chaos. If we are adrift in chaos, then the fragile egalitarian doctrines and emancipating programs of the revolutionary reformers have no significance; for in a vortex of chaos, only force and appetite signify.” IfsRealOrderForceProgramChaosDoctrineRevolutionaryCosmosSignificanceAppetiteFragileReformersVortexAdrift Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot Source: The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
“If a conservative order is indeed to return, we ought to know the tradition which is attached to it, so that we may rebuild society; if it is not to be restored, still we ought to understand conservative ideas so that we may rake from the ashes what scorched fragments of civilizations escape the conflagration of unchecked will and appetite.” IfsKnowsMayStillsIdeasOrderReturnOughtCivilizationTraditionConservativeAppetiteAshesFragmentsRakes Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot Source: The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
“The resources of nature, like those of spirit, are running out, and all that a conscientious man can aspire to be is a literal conservative, hoarding what remains of culture and of natural wealth against the fierce appetites of modern life.” MenRunningSpiritCultureNaturalWealthModernResourcesRemainsConservativeAppetiteFierceAspireModern LifeLiteralHoarding Book:The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot Source: The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot
“Why do we not exhaust the heritage of the ages, spiritual and material for our immediate pleasure, and let posterity go hang? So far as simple rationality is concerned, self-interest can advance no argument against the appetite of present possessors. Yet within some of us, a voice that is not the demand of self-interest or pure rationality says that we have no right to give ourselves enjoyment at the expense of our ancestors' memory and our descendants' prospects. We hold our present advantages only in trust.” GivingSelfAgeSpiritualVoiceInterestMemoriesSimplePleasureMaterialsPureDemandAdvantageConcernedArgumentConservativeEnjoymentExpensesAppetiteHeritageAncestorRationalityPosteritySelf InterestDescendantsProspects Author:Russell Kirk
