Convinced that character is all and circumstances nothing, [the Puritan] sees in the poverty of those who fall by the way, not… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
It is not till it is discovered that high individual incomes will not purchase the mass of mankind immunity from cholera, typhus, and ignorance,… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
Private property is a necessary institution, at least in a fallen world; men work more and dispute less when goods are private than when… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
Clever men are impressed in their differences from their fellows. Wise men are conscious of their resemblance to them. — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
Too often, contemning the external order as unspiritual, [the Puritan] has made it, and ultimately himself, less spiritual by reason of his contempt. — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
A reasonable estimate of economic organisation must allow for the fact that, unless industry is to be paralysed by recurrent revolts on the part… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
Virtues are often conquered by vices, but their rout is most complete when it is inflicted by other virtues, more militant, more efficient, or… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
The characteristic virtue of Englishmen is power of sustained practical activity and their characteristic vice a reluctance to test the quality of that activity… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
It is probable that democracy owes more to nonconformity than to any other single movement. — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
If a man has important work, and enough leisure and income to enable him to do it properly, he is in possession of as… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
By a kind of happy pre-established harmony, such as a later age discovered between the needs of society and the self-interest of the individual,… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image
“Granted, I should love my neighbor as myself, the questions which, under modern conditions of large-scale organization, remain for solution are, ''Who precisely is… — R. H. Tawney Copy Share Image