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Quote by William Graham Sumner

Work

The Forgotten Man and Other Essays

This book is a compilation of thought-provoking essays that delve into a range of topics, including social and political matters, offering insights and analysis on the human condition and societal dynamics. more

Author

William Graham Sumner
William Graham Sumner

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. more

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“In the field of controversy I always pity the moderate party, who stand on the open middle ground exposed to the fire of both sides.”

“The peace of the Eastern church was invaded by a swarm of fanatics [monks], incapable of fear, or reason, or humanity; and the Imperial troops acknowledged, without shame, that they were much less apprehensive of an encounter with the fiercest Barbarians.”

“Pleasure and guilt are synonymous terms in the language of the monks, and they discovered, by experience, that rigid fasts, and abstemious diet, are the most effectual preservatives against the impure desires of the flesh.”

“I have somewhere heard or read the frank confession of a Benedictine abbot: "My vow of poverty has given me a hundred thousand crowns a year; my vow of obedience has raised me to the rank of a sovereign prince." - I forget the consequences of his vow of chastity.”

“[The monks'] credulity debased and vitiated the faculties of the mind: they corrupted the evidence of history; and superstition gradually extinguished the hostile light of philosophy and science.”