--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is easy to prescribe improvement for…" description: "\"It is easy to prescribe improvement for others; it is easy to organize something, to institutionalize this or that, to pass laws, multiply bureaucratic..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/albert-j-nock-9816_again-and-again_it-is-easy-to-prescribe-improvement-for_2860104.jpg" --- # It is easy to prescribe improvement for others; it is easy… ![“It is easy to prescribe improvement for others; it is easy to organize something, to institutionalize this or that, to pass laws, multiply bureaucratic agencies, form pressure groups, start revolutions, change forms of government, tinker at political theory. The fact that these expedients have…” quote by Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/albert-j-nock-9816_again-and-again_it-is-easy-to-prescribe-improvement-for_2860104.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/albert-j-nock-9816_again-and-again_it-is-easy-to-prescribe-improvement-for_2860104.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/484/albert-j-nock-9816_again-and-again_it-is-easy-to-prescribe-improvement-for_2860104.jpg) > “It is easy to prescribe improvement for others; it is easy to organize something, to institutionalize this or that, to pass laws, multiply bureaucratic agencies, form pressure groups, start revolutions, change forms of government, tinker at political theory. The fact that these expedients have been tried unsuccessfully in every conceivable combination for 6,000 years has not noticeably impaired a credulous unintelligent willingness to keep on trying them again and again.” [Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Repeated attempts at political reforms fail, yet people persist due to credulous optimism and lack of critical thinking. **In simple terms:** People keep trying failed political fixes. Key Takeaway Question the efficacy of repeated reforms. Themes politics history skepticism Mood critical skeptical Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - policy making - activism - government lobbying - public debates - education reform Key Concepts institutional inertia human nature Questions to Reflect On - Why do we repeat failed strategies? - What alternatives exist beyond institutional change? A Different Perspective Reforms may have unseen benefits. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Again and again](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/again-and-again/) [Agency](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agency/) [Combination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/combination/) [Easy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/easy/) [Expedients Tried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expedients-tried-3854565/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/form/) [Forms of government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forms-of-government/) [Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/) [Groups](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/groups/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Improvement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/improvement/) [Improvement Easy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/improvement-easy-3854564/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Multiply Bureaucratic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/multiply-bureaucratic-3854566/) [Organize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organize/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Political theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-theory/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Prescribe Improvement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prescribe-improvement-3854563/) [Pressure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pressure/) [Pressure groups](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pressure-groups/) [Revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolution/) [Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Unintelligent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unintelligent/) [Willingness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/willingness/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. 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Paul Getty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-paul-getty/) > [Ocean acidification looks suspiciously like a back-up plan by the environmental pressure groups in case the climate fails to warm: another try at condemning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-ridley/ocean-acidification-looks-suspiciously-like-a-back-up-plan-by-the/) [Matt Ridley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-ridley/) > [With the help of pressure groups, government now has crossed over into the final frontier of bigotry, what writer and Catholic theologian Michael Novak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cal-thomas/with-the-help-of-pressure-groups-government-now-has-crossed-over-into/) [Cal Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cal-thomas/) > [The gold standard makes the money's purchasing power independent of the changing, ambitions and doctrines of political parties and pressure groups. This is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/the-gold-standard-makes-the-money-s-purchasing-power-independent-of/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [Statism, which forces all of us within its orbit, is nothing but a political system of organized plunder, managed by every conceivable type of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-read/statism-which-forces-all-of-us-within-its-orbit-is-nothing-but-a/) [Leonard Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-read/) > [The legislature, like the executive, has ceased to be even the creature of the people: it is the creature of pressure groups, and most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-legislature-like-the-executive-has-ceased-to-be-even-the-creature/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The people in the popular group say there is no peer pressure because they are at the top of the food chain. Really what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-greenfield/the-people-in-the-popular-group-say-there-is-no-peer-pressure-because/) [Lauren Greenfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-greenfield/) > [ The Conspiracy Theory of Society... \[is\] a typical result of the secularization of a religious superstition. The belief in the Homeric gods whose conspiracies… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/the-conspiracy-theory-of-society-is-a-typical-result-of-the/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [A small group is powerful in matters relating to a particular industry, because then it is normally the only organized force, but it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mancur-olson/a-small-group-is-powerful-in-matters-relating-to-a-particular/) [Mancur Olson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mancur-olson/) > [Offering 'comprehensive' reform usually means years of arguing and horse-trading among pressure groups to get anything done. By the time all the special interests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-davis-hanson/offering-comprehensive-reform-usually-means-years-of-arguing-and/) [Victor Davis Hanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-davis-hanson/) > [“Bismarck had cunningly taught the parties not to aim at national appeal but to represent interests. They remained class or sectional pressure-groups under the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-johnson/bismarck-had-cunningly-taught-the-parties-not-to-aim-at-national/) [Paul Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-johnson/) ## More by Albert J. Nock > [The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-j-nock/the-state-on-the-other-hand-both-in-its-genesis-and-by-its-primary/) [Albert J. 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Nock quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) ## More Again and again quotes > [A human being can only absorb a small amount of the mystical kundalini, you can be exposed again and again to it, but it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/a-human-being-can-only-absorb-a-small-amount-of-the-mystical/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [As in any machine, all the wires must be connected to the mains through one main wire. In the same way, you all must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/as-in-any-machine-all-the-wires-must-be-connected-to-the-mains/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [Because when you work with a different team, the expectations are different and then you deliver in a very different way. You look back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-r-rahman/because-when-you-work-with-a-different-team-the-expectations-are/) [A. R. 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