---
title: "2 Anti-intellectualism Quotes By Richard Hofstadter"
description: "2 Anti-intellectualism quotes by Richard Hofstadter. Plus more from Richard Hofstadter and more Anti-intellectualism sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/628/richard-hofstadter-12288_american-society_the-danger-that-american-society-as-a-wh_973801.png"
---

> [“...the danger that American society as a whole will over-esteem intellect or assign it such a transcendent value as to displace other legitimate values is one that hardly troubles us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/the-danger-that-american-society-as-a-whole-will-over-esteem/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/628/richard-hofstadter-12288_american-society_the-danger-that-american-society-as-a-wh_973801.png)

> [“To those who suspect that intellect is a subversive force in society, it will not do to reply that intellect is really a safe, bland, and emollient thing. In a certain sense, the suspicious Tories and militant philistines are right:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/to-those-who-suspect-that-intellect-is-a-subversive-force-in-society/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c71/richard-hofstadter-12288_anti-intellectualism_to-those-who-suspect-that-intellect-is-a_2606603.jpg)

## More by Richard Hofstadter

> [Anti-Catholicism has always been the pornography of the Puritan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/anti-catholicism-has-always-been-the-pornography-of-the-puritan/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [“purity of a sort is easily had where responsibilities are not assumed. The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/purity-of-a-sort-is-easily-had-where-responsibilities-are-not-assumed/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [It is a part of the intellectual's tragedy that the things he most values about himself and his work are quite unlike those society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/it-is-a-part-of-the-intellectual-s-tragedy-that-the-things-he-most/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [It has been our fate as a nation not to have ideologies but to be one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/it-has-been-our-fate-as-a-nation-not-to-have-ideologies-but-to-be-one/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [“The truly creative mind is hardly ever so much alone as when it is trying to be sociable. The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/the-truly-creative-mind-is-hardly-ever-so-much-alone-as-when-it-is/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [“They thought man was a creature of rapacious self-interest, and yet they wanted him to be free- free, in essence, to contend, to engage…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/they-thought-man-was-a-creature-of-rapacious-self-interest-and-yet/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [It is a poor head that cannot find plausible reason for doing what the heart wants to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/it-is-a-poor-head-that-cannot-find-plausible-reason-for-doing-what/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [It is possible that the distinction between moral relativism and moral absolutism has sometimes been blurred because an excessively consistent practice of either leads…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/it-is-possible-that-the-distinction-between-moral-relativism-and/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [To be sick and helpless is a humiliating experience. Prolonged illness also carries the hazard of narcissistic self-absorption.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/to-be-sick-and-helpless-is-a-humiliating-experience-prolonged-illness/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [There has always been in our national experience a type of mind which elevates hatred to a kind of creed; for this mind, group…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/there-has-always-been-in-our-national-experience-a-type-of-mind-which/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [The intellectual's ... playfulness, in its various manifestations, is likely to seem to most men a perverse luxury; in the United States the play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/the-intellectual-s-playfulness-in-its-various-manifestations-is/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [“...the danger that American society as a whole will over-esteem intellect or assign it such a transcendent value as to displace other legitimate values…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/the-danger-that-american-society-as-a-whole-will-over-esteem/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [To be confronted with a simple and unqualified evil is no doubt a kind of luxury…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/to-be-confronted-with-a-simple-and-unqualified-evil-is-no-doubt-a/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [“When one considers American history as a whole, it is hard to think of any very long period in which it could be said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/when-one-considers-american-history-as-a-whole-it-is-hard-to-think-of/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

> [If there is anything more dangerous to the life of the mind than having no independent commitment to ideas, it is having an excess…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hofstadter/if-there-is-anything-more-dangerous-to-the-life-of-the-mind-than/)

[Richard Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hofstadter/)

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