Political action involves mental vulgarity, not merely because it entails the occurrence and support of those who are mentally vulgar, but because of the simplification of human life implied in even the best of it purposes. — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share Image
In political activity, then, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place nor… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
Education is ... the invitation to disentangle oneself, for a time, from the urgencies of the here and now and to listen to the… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
It is certain that most who concentrate upon achievement miss life. — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
A recorded past is no more than a bygone present composed of the footprints made by human beings actually going somewhere but not knowing… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
To be conservative…is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
The man of conservative temperament believes that a known good is not lightly to be surrendered for an unknown better. — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
The rule of law bakes no bread, it is unable to distribute loaves or fishes (it has none), and it cannot protect itself against… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
This, I believe, is the appropriate image of human intercourse -- appropriate because it recognizes the qualities, the diversities, and the proper relationships of… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
Our predicament is not the difficulty of attaining happiness, but the difficult of avoiding the misery to which the pursuit of happiness exposes us. — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
Politics I take to be the activity of attending to the general arrangements of a set of people whom chance or choice have brought… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
Economics is not an attempt to generalize human desires or human behavior; but to generalize the phenomena of price. — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
We consider ourselves to be free because no one in our society is allowed unlimited powerno leader, faction, party or 'class', no majority, no… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in the unfortunate position of not being able to touch anything, without transforming it into an abstraction; he… — Michael Joseph Oakeshott Copy Share
