Lincoln Steffens
Lincoln Steffens
Lincoln Joseph Steffenswas a New York reporter who launched a series of articles in McClure's, called Tweed Days in St. Louis, that would later be published together in a book titled The Shame of the Cities. He is remembered for investigating corruption in municipal government in American cities and for his early support for the Soviet Union...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth6 April 1866
CountryUnited States of America
Lincoln Steffens quotes about
morality
Morality is moral only when it is voluntary.
atheism morality ethics
Morality is only moral when it is voluntary.
sense-of-humor existence
The only thing worth having in an earthly existence is a sense of humor.
party men evil
Whenever anything extraordinary is done in American municipal politics, whether for good or for evil, you can trace it almost invariably to one man. The people do not do it. Neither do the 'gangs,' 'combines,' or political parties.
father feet laughing
My father would invite me sweetly to come and sit on a stool at his feet, and, as I let myself trustingly down, he would gently kick the seat from under me - and laugh.
party two government
If we would vote in mass on the more promising ticket, or, if the two are equally bad, would throw out the party that is in, and wait till the next election and then throw out the other party that is in - then, I say, the commercial politician would feel a demand for good government and he would supply it.
party men cities
If we would leave parties to the politicians, and would vote not for the party, not even for men, but for the city, and the State, and the nation, we should rule parties, and cities, and States, and nation.
successful intelligent needs
We need some great failures. Especially we ever-successful Americans - conscious, intelligent, illuminating failures.
contending has-beens
I have been contending all my life, and always with God.
christian church heard
I never heard a Christian sermon preached in a church.
father government constitution-of-the-united-states
I hunted far enough to suspect that the Fathers of the Republic who wrote our Sacred Constitution of the United States not only did not, but did not want to, establish a democratic government.
lawlessness spirit american-spirit
The spirit of graft and of lawlessness is the American spirit.
cities giving chicago
Chicago will give you a chance. The sporting spirit is the spirit of Chicago.
cities village dirt
First in violence, deepest in dirt, lawless, unlovely, ill-smelling, irreverent, new; an overgrown gawk of a - village, the "tough" among cities, a spectacle for the nation.