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
answered bernard future works
So you've been over into Russia?" said Bernard Baruch, and I answered very literally, "I have been over into the future and it works
morality
Morality is moral only when it is voluntary.
creativity government law
Nothing is done. Everything in the world remains to be done or done over. The greatest picture is not yet painted, the greatest play isn't written, the greatest poem is unsung. There isn't in all the world a perfect railroad, nor a good government, nor a sound law. Physics, mathematics, and especially the most advanced and exact of the sciences are being fundamentally revised. . . Psychology, economics, and sociology are awaiting a Darwin, whose work in turn is awaiting an Einstein.
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.
opportunity ninety-nine best-picture
The best picture has not yet been painted; the greatest poem is still unsung; the mightiest novel remains to be written; the divinest music has not been conceived, even by Bach. In science, probably ninety-nine percent of the knowable has not yet been discovered.
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.