Richard Hofstadter
Richard Hofstadter
Richard Hofstadterwas an American historian and public intellectual of the mid-20th century. Hofstadter was the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. Rejecting his earlier approach to history from the far left, in the 1950s he embraced consensus history, becoming the "iconic historian of postwar liberal consensus", largely because of his emphasis on ideas and political culture rather than the day-to-day doings of politicians. His influence is ongoing, as modern critics profess admiration for the grace of his...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth6 August 1916
CountryUnited States of America
Richard Hofstadter quotes about
It is a poor head that cannot find plausible reason for doing what the heart wants to do.
Intellect is neither practical nor impractical; it is extra-practical.
To the zealot overcome by his piety and to the journeyman of ideas concerned only with his marketable mental skills, the beginning and end of ideas lies in their efficacy with respect to some goal external to intellectual processes.
The nation seems to slouch onward into its uncertain future like some huge inarticulate beast, too much attainted by wounds and ailments to be robust, but too strong and resourceful to succumb.
Intellect needs to be understood not as some kind of claim against the other human excellences for which a fatally high price has to be paid, but rather as a complement to them without which they cannot be fully consummated.
As with the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of truth is itself gratifying whereas the consummation often turns out to be elusive.
The role of third parties is to sting like a bee, then die.
It has been our fate as a nation not to have ideologies but to be one.
Anti-Catholicism has always been the pornography of the Puritan.
It is possible that the distinction between moral relativism and moral absolutism has sometimes been blurred because an excessively consistent practice of either leads to the same practical result — ruthlessness in political life.
We have learned so well how to absorb novelty that receptivity itself has turned into a kind of tradition- "the tradition of the new." Yesterdays avant-garde experiment is today's chic and tomorrows cliche.
To be sick and helpless is a humiliating experience. Prolonged illness also carries the hazard of narcissistic self-absorption.
The tradition of the new. Yesterday's avant-gard-experiment is today's chic and tomorrow's cliche.
To be confronted with a simple and unqualified evil is no doubt a kind of luxury....