Quotes Library

April 25, 2025

Government…is simply not the channel through which men’s noblest impulses are to be realized. Its task, on the contrary, is largely to see to it that the ignoble ones are kept under restraint and not permitted to go too far.

George Kennan (1904–2005), American diplomat, historian. Around the Cragged Hill (1993), Jay p.203

Did you come to elective office to do good, or to do well? Have you sacrificed the former in the interest of the latter? Do you think Kennan read The Federalist as a student?

If you want to pursue a noble human impulse, join the NGO of your choice. *non-government organization.


More Quotes

February 15, 2025
All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavor to find out what you don’t know by what you do;
October 28, 2025
[Definition of] Modesty: the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.
October 22, 2025
Minorities…are almost always in the right.
Page 16 of 124