“The United States cannot reshape other countries in its own image and that, with a few exceptions, its efforts to police the world are neither in its interests nor within the scope of its resources. This whole tendency to see ourselves as the center of political enlightenment and as teachers to a great part of the rest of the world strikes me as unthought-through, vainglorious and undesirable.” WorldCountryStatesWholeAmericaPoliticalInterestUnitedEffortUnited StatesTeacherEnlightenmentResourcesPoliceStrikesTendenciesExceptionOther CountriesScopeUndesirable Author:George F. Kennan
“In America people have this funny idea about enlightenment and money. Money expresses a level of commitment. Studying enlightenment is like going to a university.” PeopleIdeasAmericaLevelsStudyBuddhismEnlightenmentCommitmentUniversityBuddhistEtiquette Author:Frederick Lenz
“There are two visions of America. One precedes our founding fathers and finds its roots in the harshness of our Puritan past. It is very suspicious of freedom, uncomfortable with diversity hostile to science, unfriendly to reason, contemptuous of personal autonomy. It sees America as a religious nation. It views patriotism as allegiance to God. It secretly adores coercion and conformity. Despite our constitution, despite the legacy of the Enlightenment, it appeals to millions of Americans and threatens our freedom.” TwoReasonAmericaPastFatherNationsReligiousViewsVisionMillionsAtheismDiversityEnlightenmentRootsConstitutionDespiteAppealsLegacyUncomfortableConformityAdoreFoundingHostileAutonomySuspiciousCoercionAllegianceOur Founding FathersPuritanHarshnessUnfriendlyContemptuous Author:Sherwin Wine
“The great intellectual tradition that comes down to us from the past was never interrupted or lost through such trifles as the sack of Rome, the triumph of Attila, or all the barbarian invasions of the Dark Ages. It was lost after the introduction of printing, the discovery of America, the founding of the Royal Society, and all the enlightenment of the Renaissance and the modern world. It was there, if anywhere, that there was lost or impatiently snapped the long thin delicate thread that had descended from distant antiquity; the thread of that unusual human hobby: the habit of thinking.” IfsThinkingWorldHumansLongAgeAmericaPastLostDarkModernHabitIntellectualEnlightenmentDiscoveryTraditionTriumphUnusualRomeDelicateThreadHobbiesRoyalFoundingModern WorldIntroductionInvasionDark AgesRenaissanceTriflesPrintingAntiquityBarbariansInterruptedDiscovery Of America Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
“America became a special source of attraction to people who were fleeing the aftereffects of the 30 Years War and the religious persecution that began to sweep through Europe in the period between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. And when people got here, very often they succeeded.” PeopleYearsWarAmericaReligiousSpecialSourcePeriodsEnlightenmentEuropeAttractionPersecutionRenaissanceFleeingReligious Persecution Author:Mitch Horowitz
“What we are seeing in America is the creaky old age of an eighteenth-century settlement, deemed at the time to be the new flowering of humankind-come-of-age (the 'Enlightenment') and so deemed to be above revision. At this point the urgent need is for prayer and prophecy.” NeedsAgeAmericaPrayerSeeingCenturyEnlightenmentOld AgeHumankindProphecyUrgentSettlementRevisionFlowering Author:N. T. Wright
“Emancipation came to the colored race in America as a war measure. It was an act of military necessity. Manifestly it would have come without war, in the slower process of humanitarian reform and social enlightenment.” WarAmericaSocialProcessRaceMilitaryEnlightenmentHumanitarianReformEmancipationRace In America Book:Prefaces TO PEACE Source: Prefaces TO PEACE
“In Europe, the Enlightenment of the 18th century was seen as a battle against the desire of the Church to limit intellectual freedom, a battle against the Inquisition, a battle against religious censorship. And the victory of the Enlightenment in Europe was seen as pushing religion away from the center of power. In America, at the same time, the Enlightenment meant coming to a country where people were not going to persecute you by reason of your religion. So it meant a liberation into religion. In Europe, it was liberation out of religion.” PeopleCountryReasonAmericaDesireChurchReligiousHistoryCenturyVictoryBattleLimitsIntellectualEnlightenmentEuropeLiberationPushingCensorshipInquisition18th CenturyIntellectual Freedom Author:Salman Rushdie
“The enlightenment is under threat. So is reason. So is truth. So is science, especially in the schools of America.” ReasonSchoolAmericaEnlightenmentThreat Author:Richard Dawkins