---
title: "1 Dangerous Life Quotes By Richard Hofstadter"
description: "1 Dangerous Life quotes by Richard Hofstadter. Plus more from Richard Hofstadter and more Dangerous Life sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/501/richard-hofstadter-12288_commitment_if-there-is-anything-more-dangerous-to-t_1084039.png"
---

> [If there is anything more dangerous to the life of the mind than having no independent commitment to ideas, it is having an excess of commitment to some special and constricting idea.](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/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/501/richard-hofstadter-12288_commitment_if-there-is-anything-more-dangerous-to-t_1084039.png)

## 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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