--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Generalizations, like brooms, ought not…" description: "\"Generalizations, like brooms, ought not to stand in a corner forever; they ought to sweep as a matter of course.\" — John Lukacs" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d38/john-lukacs-34182_brooms_generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to_1259221.png" --- # Generalizations, like brooms, ought not to stand in a… ![“Generalizations, like brooms, ought not to stand in a corner forever; they ought to sweep as a matter of course.” quote by John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d38/john-lukacs-34182_brooms_generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to_1259221.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d38/john-lukacs-34182_brooms_generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to_1259221.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d38/john-lukacs-34182_brooms_generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to_1259221.png) > “Generalizations, like brooms, ought not to stand in a corner forever; they ought to sweep as a matter of course.” [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Generalizations are useful but must be applied regularly, not left idle. **In simple terms:** Generalizations need active use. Key Takeaway Apply ideas constantly. Themes critical thinking communication logic Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical advisory When to use this quote - debates - policy making - teaching - writing Key Concepts Sociology epistemology pragmatism Questions to Reflect On - When have you let a rule go unused? - How can you keep ideas active? A Different Perspective Overreliance can lead to stereotyping. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brooms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooms/) [Brooms Ought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooms-ought-3997677/) [Forever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forever/) [Generalization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generalization/) [Generalizations Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generalizations-like-3997680/) [Like Brooms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-brooms-3997679/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Ought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ought/) [Ought Sweep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ought-sweep-3997678/) ## Related quotes > [“I like gross generalizations...I also like disgusting specifics!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-stern/i-like-gross-generalizations-i-also-like-disgusting-specifics/) [Josh Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-stern/) > [There should be less talk. . . . What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/there-should-be-less-talk-what-do-you-do-then-take-a-broom-and-clean/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands,' said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/draco-malfoy/my-father-s-next-door-buying-my-books-and-mother-s-up-the-street/) [Draco Malfoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/draco-malfoy/) > [Photographers who come up with power never get accused of imitating anyone else even though they photograph the same broom, same street, same portraits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minor-white/photographers-who-come-up-with-power-never-get-accused-of-imitating/) [Minor White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/minor-white/) > [It is up to us to organize the people. As for the reactionaries in China, it is up to us to organize the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/it-is-up-to-us-to-organize-the-people-as-for-the-reactionaries-in/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [I use all sorts of things to work with: old brooms, old sweaters, and all kinds of peculiar tools and materials... I paint to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/i-use-all-sorts-of-things-to-work-with-old-brooms-old-sweaters-and/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [I mean, give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string, I wouldn't get bored anywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-richards/i-mean-give-me-a-guitar-give-me-a-piano-give-me-a-broom-and-string-i/) [Keith Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-richards/) > [She comes by night, in fearsome flight, in garments black as pitch, the queen of doom upon her broom, the wild and wicked witch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-prelutsky/she-comes-by-night-in-fearsome-flight-in-garments-black-as-pitch-the/) [Jack Prelutsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-prelutsky/) > [There was this big skiffle craze happening for a while in England… Everybody was in a skiffle group..All you needed was an acoustic Guitar,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-harrison/there-was-this-big-skiffle-craze-happening-for-a-while-in-england/) [George Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-harrison/) > [Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice, that's a true saying. Yet I know too that drunkeness is not a virtue, and that's even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/honoured-sir-poverty-is-not-a-vice-that-s-a-true-saying-yet-i-know/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [The person who sweeps the floor should choose the broom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-behar/the-person-who-sweeps-the-floor-should-choose-the-broom/) [Howard Behar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-behar/) > [Let’s see . . . ah, yes, this is nice and cozy.” It was a broom cupboard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-s-see-ah-yes-this-is-nice-and-cozy-it-was-a-broom-cupboard/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [After that, he tried to go upstairs through the broom cupboard, and then the yard. This seemed to puzzle him a little. But finally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-wynne-jones/after-that-he-tried-to-go-upstairs-through-the-broom-cupboard-and/) [Diana Wynne Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-wynne-jones/) > [“Street sweepers were pulling their wide brooms down the road and the swish of their brooms filtered through the tail-end of her dreams.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shani-mootoo/street-sweepers-were-pulling-their-wide-brooms-down-the-road-and-the/) [Shani Mootoo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shani-mootoo/) > [There's times when I'm cleaning the kitchen, and while I'm doing that, I'm singing and air guitaring with a broom to 'You Should Be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corey-taylor/there-s-times-when-i-m-cleaning-the-kitchen-and-while-i-m-doing-that/) [Corey Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corey-taylor/) ## More by John Lukacs > [All the nationalists are wasms - except one, the most powerful of this century, indeed, of the entire democratic age, which is nationalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/all-the-nationalists-are-wasms-except-one-the-most-powerful-of-this/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [“It does not require much historical knowledge (though it may require a certain historical perspective) to see that many, if not all, of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/it-does-not-require-much-historical-knowledge-though-it-may-require-a/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [Our everyday language has become encumbered, Germanic, artificial, bureaucratic, inorganic. It may not be exaggerated to say that by now American writers face but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/our-everyday-language-has-become-encumbered-germanic-artificial/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [“About these developments George Orwell , in Nineteen Eighty-Four , was quite wrong. He described a new kind of state and police tyranny, under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/about-these-developments-george-orwell-in-nineteen-eighty-four-was/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [But then history does not only consist of documents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/but-then-history-does-not-only-consist-of-documents/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [“When civilization is strong and widespread enough, "culture" will appear and take care of itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/when-civilization-is-strong-and-widespread-enough-culture-will-appear/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [“...in our dreams we do not think differently, we remember differently.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/in-our-dreams-we-do-not-think-differently-we-remember-differently/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [There are innumerable instances suggesting that modern intellectuals do not believe themselves, that they don't really believe what they say, that they say certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/there-are-innumerable-instances-suggesting-that-modern-intellectuals/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [ “It was thus that in 1940 \[Hitler\] represented a wave of the future. His greatest reactionary opponent, Churchill, was like King Canute, attempting to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/it-was-thus-that-in-1940-hitler-represented-a-wave-of-the-future-his/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [“...science is the kind of sacred cow which theology was five hundred years ago…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/science-is-the-kind-of-sacred-cow-which-theology-was-five-hundred/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [Populism is folkish, patriotism is not. One can be a patriot and a cosmopolitan. But a populist is inevitably a nationalist of sorts. Patriotism,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/populism-is-folkish-patriotism-is-not-one-can-be-a-patriot-and-a/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [Even one billion Chinese do not a superpower make.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/even-one-billion-chinese-do-not-a-superpower-make/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) > [“I am writing this because on that night of the tenth of May in the 1,940th year of Our Lord, Churchill stood for more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/i-am-writing-this-because-on-that-night-of-the-tenth-of-may-in-the-1/) [John Lukacs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) [Explore all 14 John Lukacs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/) ## More Brooms quotes > [There's times when I'm cleaning the kitchen, and while I'm doing that, I'm singing and air guitaring with a broom to 'You Should Be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corey-taylor/there-s-times-when-i-m-cleaning-the-kitchen-and-while-i-m-doing-that/) [Corey Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corey-taylor/) > [“Street sweepers were pulling their wide brooms down the road and the swish of their brooms filtered through the tail-end of her dreams.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shani-mootoo/street-sweepers-were-pulling-their-wide-brooms-down-the-road-and-the/) [Shani Mootoo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shani-mootoo/) > [After that, he tried to go upstairs through the broom cupboard, and then the yard. This seemed to puzzle him a little. But finally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-wynne-jones/after-that-he-tried-to-go-upstairs-through-the-broom-cupboard-and/) [Diana Wynne Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-wynne-jones/) > [Let’s see . . . ah, yes, this is nice and cozy.” It was a broom cupboard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-s-see-ah-yes-this-is-nice-and-cozy-it-was-a-broom-cupboard/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The person who sweeps the floor should choose the broom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-behar/the-person-who-sweeps-the-floor-should-choose-the-broom/) [Howard Behar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-behar/) > [Honoured sir, poverty is not a vice, that's a true saying. Yet I know too that drunkeness is not a virtue, and that's even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoevsky/honoured-sir-poverty-is-not-a-vice-that-s-a-true-saying-yet-i-know/) [Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoevsky/) > [There was this big skiffle craze happening for a while in England… Everybody was in a skiffle group..All you needed was an acoustic Guitar,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-harrison/there-was-this-big-skiffle-craze-happening-for-a-while-in-england/) [George Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-harrison/) > [She comes by night, in fearsome flight, in garments black as pitch, the queen of doom upon her broom, the wild and wicked witch.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-prelutsky/she-comes-by-night-in-fearsome-flight-in-garments-black-as-pitch-the/) [Jack Prelutsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-prelutsky/) > [I mean, give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string, I wouldn't get bored anywhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-richards/i-mean-give-me-a-guitar-give-me-a-piano-give-me-a-broom-and-string-i/) [Keith Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-richards/) > [I use all sorts of things to work with: old brooms, old sweaters, and all kinds of peculiar tools and materials... I paint to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/i-use-all-sorts-of-things-to-work-with-old-brooms-old-sweaters-and/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [It is up to us to organize the people. As for the reactionaries in China, it is up to us to organize the people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/it-is-up-to-us-to-organize-the-people-as-for-the-reactionaries-in/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [Photographers who come up with power never get accused of imitating anyone else even though they photograph the same broom, same street, same portraits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minor-white/photographers-who-come-up-with-power-never-get-accused-of-imitating/) [Minor White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/minor-white/) > [My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands,' said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/draco-malfoy/my-father-s-next-door-buying-my-books-and-mother-s-up-the-street/) [Draco Malfoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/draco-malfoy/) > [There should be less talk. . . . What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/there-should-be-less-talk-what-do-you-do-then-take-a-broom-and-clean/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) > [Meditation is like a giant broom for sweeping away any stagnant or blocked energy that you may have buried deep in your body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-king/meditation-is-like-a-giant-broom-for-sweeping-away-any-stagnant-or/) [Deborah King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-king/) [Browse all 93 Brooms quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brooms/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Generalizations, like brooms, ought not to stand in a corner forever; they ought to sweep as a matter of course.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Lukacs" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to-stand-in-a-corner-forever/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Brooms" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to-stand-in-a-corner-forever/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d38/john-lukacs-34182_brooms_generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to_1259221.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d38/john-lukacs-34182_brooms_generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to_1259221.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d38/john-lukacs-34182_brooms_generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to_1259221.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Generalizations, like brooms, ought not to stand in a corner forever; they ought to sweep as a matter of…” — John Lukacs", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Lukacs", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lukacs/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Generalizations, like brooms, ought not to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to-stand-in-a-corner-forever/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lukacs/generalizations-like-brooms-ought-not-to-stand-in-a-corner-forever/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```