“Today, as in the past, we ought to remind ourselves that the true natural law is not a mere congeries of appetites,… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“By “the Permanent Things” [T. S. Eliot] meant those elements in the human condition that give us our nature, without which we… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
The conservative "thinks of political policies as intended to preserve order, justice, and freedom. The ideologue, on the contrary, thinks of politics… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“Libertarians (like anarchists and Marxists) generally believe that human nature is good, though damaged by certain social institutions. Conservatives, on the contrary,… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“The trouble with purging the school curriculum of religious knowledge is that ultimate questions cannot be answered without reference to religious beliefs… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
To check centralization and usurping of power ... we require a new laissez-faire. The old laissez-faire was founded upon a misapprehension of… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“True law necessarily is rooted in ethical assumptions or norms; and those ethical principles are derived, in the beginning at least, from… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“Only portions of the globe still enslaved by the enemies of the people refrained from congratulating President Zingu and Premier Villiers-Kolama upon the astounding… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“Manfredo -- Your Excellency -- how can you, even you, hope...?" "Life is a jest, and all things show it, my dear," I replied;… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“Today, as in the past, we ought to remind ourselves that the true natural law is not a mere congeries of appetites, and that… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
Moral decay first hampers and then strangles honest government, regular commerce, and even the ability to take genuine pleasure in the goods of this… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“Men are put into this world, he [the enlightened conservative] realizes, to struggle, to suffer, to contend against the evil that is in their… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
Mine was not an Enlightened mind, I now was aware: it was a Gothic mind, medieval in its temper and structure. I did not… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
Humility, which Burke ranked high among the virtues, is the only effectual restraint upon this congenital vanity; yet our world has nearly forgotten the… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
Rousseau and his disciples were resolved to force men to be free; in most of the world, they triumphed; men are set free from… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
If men are discharged of reverence for ancient usage, they will treat this world, almost certainly, as if it were their private property, to… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image
“The Conservative Mind describes a cast of intellect or a type of character, an inclination to cherish the permanent things in human existence. On… — Russell Kirk Copy Share Image