History is not what happened 200 or 2,000 years ago; it's a story about what happened 200 or 2,000 years ago. — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
What kind of people do we wish to become, and how do we know an American when we see one? Is it… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
The practice of our democracy depends on a sense of, and knowledge of, history in the same way that playing in the… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
Construed as a means instead of an end, history is the weapon with which we defend the future against the past. — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
Never in the history of the world have so many people been so rich; never in the history of the world have… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
At this late stage in the history of American capitalism I'm not sure I know how much testimony still needs to be… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
The figure of the enthusiast who has just discovered jogging or a new way to fix tofu can be said to stand or, more… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
The future turns out to be something that you make instead of find. It isn't waiting for your arrival, either with an arrest warrant… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
The genius of capitalism consists precisely in its lack of morality. Unless he is rich enough to hire his own choir, a capitalist is… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
We might make a public moan in the newspapers about the decay of conscience, but in private conversation, no matter what crimes a man… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
[For American consumer society], the country's reserves of ignorance constitute a natural resource as precious as the Mississippi River or the long-lost herds of… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
His administration apparently means to define itself as a television program instead of a government...I don't know if it can please both its sponsors… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
In the garden of tabloid delight, there is always a clean towel and another song. — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
About the presence of death and dying I don't remember the society in the 1950s being so skittish as it has since become. People… — Lewis H. Lapham Copy Share Image
![“[For American consumer society], the country's reserves of ignorance constitute a natural resource as precious as the Mississippi River or the long-lost herds of buffalo.” quote by Lewis H. Lapham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6b0/lewis-h-lapham-7190_buffalo_for-american-consumer-society-the-countr_157122.jpg)
