James Bryce
James Bryce
atheism different citizens
It is accepted as an axiom by all Americans that the civil power ought to be not only neutral and impartial as between different forms of faith, but ought to leave these matters entirely on one side, regarding them no more than it regards the artistic or literary pursuits of the citizens.
religious war europe
Of all the differences between the Old World and the New, this is perhaps the most salient. Half the wars of Europe, half the internal troubles that have vexed European States... have arisen from theological differences or from the rival claims of Church and State. This whole vast chapter of debate and strife has remained virtually unopened in the United States. There is no Established Church. All religious bodies are equal before the law, and unrecognized by the law, except as voluntary associations of private citizens.
careers political quality
A political career brings out the basest qualities in human nature.
government practice armenia
The massacres are the result of a policy which, as far as can be ascertained, has been entertained for some considerable time by the gang of unscrupulous adventurers who are now in possession of the Government of the Turkish Empire. They hesitated to put it in practice until they thought the favorable moment had come, and that moment seems to have arrived about the month of April.
science practice-of-medicine medical-profession
Medicine, the only profession that labors incessantly to destroy the reason for its own existence.
ignorance thinking people
To most people, nothing is more troublesome than the effort of thinking.
men doors views
There is a hearty Puritanism in the view of human nature which pervades the instrument of 1787. It is the work of men who believed in original sin, and were resolved to leave open for transgressors no door which they could possibly shut.
country war patriotic
Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity.
communication keys understanding
Communication is the key to education, understanding and peace.
pride liberty peculiar
Individualism, the love of enterprise, and the pride in personal freedom, have been deemed by Americans not only as their choicest, but their peculiar and exclusive possessions.
running struggle rights
The presence of the blacks is the greatest evil that threatens the United States. They increase, in the Gulf States, faster than do the whites. They cannot be kept for ever in slavery, since the tendencies of the modern world run strongly the other way. They cannot be absorbed into the white population, for the whites will not intermarry with them, not even in the North where they have been free for two generations. Once freed, they would be more dangerous than now, because they would not long submit to be debarred from political rights. A terrible struggle would ensue.
needs culture mediocrity
The ordinary American voter does not object to mediocrity. He likes his candidate to be sensible, vigorous, and, above all, what he calls 'magnetic,' and does not value, because he sees no need for, originality or profundity, a fine culture or a wide knowledge.
mistake men thinking
Three-fourths of the mistakes a man makes are made because he does not really know the things he thinks he knows.
book environment pleasure-of-reading
The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.