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William Graham Sumner

William Graham Sumner Quotes

Political scientist

William Graham Sumner was an influential American political scientist born on October 30, 1840, and died on April 12, 1910. He was a leading figure in social Darwinism and had a profound impact on American political thought from the late 19th to the early 20th century.

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All Men Ifs Forgotten Want Pay Social States War Class Doctrine Humans Made Order People Political Vices Cases Doe Duty Earth

Famous William Graham Sumner Quotes

“It is not the function of the State to make men happy. They must make themselves happy in their own way, and at their own risk. The functions of the State lie entirely in the conditions or chances under which the pursuit of happiness is carried on.”

Men Way States Government Lying Chance Risk Conditions Function Pursuit Pursuit Of Happiness

Book:What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

Source: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

“My patriotism is of the kind which is outraged by the notion that the United States never was a great nation until in a petty three months' campaign it knocked to pieces a poor, decrepit, bankrupt old state like Spain. To hold such an opinion as that is to abandon all American standards, to put shame and scorn on all that our ancestors tried to build up here, and to go over to the standards of which Spain is a representative.”

Source: War and Other Essays

“The State cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man”

Men States Forgotten Saved Latter Cents Ministry Be A Man

Book:What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

Source: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

“History is only a tiresome repetition of one story. Persons and classes have sought to win possession of the power of the State in order to live luxuriously out of the earnings of others”

Persons States Stories Order Winning Class Possession Earning Repetition Tiresome

Book:What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

Source: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

“Furthermore, the unearned increment from land appears in the United States as a gain to the first comers, who have here laid the foundations of a new State.”

Firsts States United United States Land Gains Foundation

Book:What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

Source: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

“It is a beneficent incident of the ownership of land that a pioneer who reduces it to use, and helps to lay the foundations of a new State, finds a profit in the increasing value of land as the new State grows up.”

States Helping Use Values Grows Growing Up Land Foundation Lays Profit Ownership Incidents Pioneers Ownership Of Land

Book:What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

Source: What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

“The State, it cannot be too often repeated, does nothing and can give nothing which it does not take from somebody. The Forgotten Man works and votes -generally he prays-but his chief business in life is to pay.”

Men Giving Doe States Political Life Is Pay Praying Program Vote Forgotten Chiefs Government Programs

Author:William Graham Sumner

About the Author

Born: October 30, 1840
Died: April 12, 1910
Known for: Political scientist
Quotes: 87

Related Topics

Men Ifs Forgotten Want Pay Social States War Class Doctrine Humans Made Order People Political Vices Cases Doe Duty Earth

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

What Social Classes Owe to Each OtherRelated source material

Selected Essays of William Graham SumnerRelated source material

The Forgotten Man and Other EssaysRelated source material

War and Other EssaysRelated source material

Folkways: A Study of Mores, Manners, Customs and MoralsRelated source material

Social Darwinism: selected essaysRelated source material

The Forgotten Man's Almanac: Rations of Common Sense from William Graham SumnerRelated source material

The Forgotten Man: And Other EssaysRelated source material

The challenge of facts: and other essaysRelated source material

Earth-hunger and other essaysRelated source material

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