--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: However ignorant a person may be, he or…" description: "\"“However ignorant a person may be, he or she can always moralize. And it is the propensity to moralize that takes up most of the space for public discu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/kenneth-minogue-28215_moralize_however-ignorant-a-person-may-be-he-or-s_2662735.jpg" --- # However ignorant a person may be, he or she can always… ![“However ignorant a person may be, he or she can always moralize. And it is the propensity to moralize that takes up most of the space for public discussion in contemporary democracy.” quote by Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/kenneth-minogue-28215_moralize_however-ignorant-a-person-may-be-he-or-s_2662735.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/kenneth-minogue-28215_moralize_however-ignorant-a-person-may-be-he-or-s_2662735.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/kenneth-minogue-28215_moralize_however-ignorant-a-person-may-be-he-or-s_2662735.jpg) > ““However ignorant a person may be, he or she can always moralize. And it is the propensity to moralize that takes up most of the space for public discussion in contemporary democracy.”” [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People tend to moralize regardless of knowledge, dominating public discourse with moral arguments. **In simple terms:** Ignorance fuels moralizing. Key Takeaway Focus on factual debate over moral posturing. Themes politics public discourse morality ignorance Mood analytical critical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - media analysis - public debates - policy making Key Concepts ethics communication democracy Questions to Reflect On - How does moralizing affect policy outcomes? - Can factual dialogue replace moral arguments? A Different Perspective Moralizing can oversimplify complex issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Moralize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moralize-1058323/) [Moralize Propensity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moralize-propensity-2441077/) [Moralize Takes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moralize-takes-2441078/) [Person Moralize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/person-moralize-2441076/) [Propensity Moralize](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propensity-moralize-2441075/) ## Related quotes > [“You could not moralize children out of growing up. Or teach them how to do it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/you-could-not-moralize-children-out-of-growing-up-or-teach-them-how/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my song.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-spenser/fierce-warres-and-faithfull-loves-shall-moralize-my-song/) [Edmund Spenser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-spenser/) > [If we say that anyone who 'moralizes' must be perfect morally then we are in effect saying no one can moralize.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-goldberg/if-we-say-that-anyone-who-moralizes-must-be-perfect-morally-then-we/) [Jonah Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-goldberg/) > [When we talk politics, we moralize. When we talk morality, we politicize.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/when-we-talk-politics-we-moralize-when-we-talk-morality-we-politicize/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [We used to moralize; today we normalize, and performance anxiety is the secular version of our old religious guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/we-used-to-moralize-today-we-normalize-and-performance-anxiety-is-the/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [The temptation to moralize is strong; it is emotionally satisfying to have enemies rather than problems, to seek out culprits rather than the flaws…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-sloane-coffin/the-temptation-to-moralize-is-strong-it-is-emotionally-satisfying-to/) [William Sloane Coffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-sloane-coffin/) > [We moralize among ruins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/we-moralize-among-ruins/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Don't you dare unload all this on me! You the extremes, you could've stopped it! And now you have the gall to moralize!?!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahj-wilson/don-t-you-dare-unload-all-this-on-me-you-the-extremes-you-could-ve/) [Tahj Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahj-wilson/) > [“Don't moralize at me! I have no love For images, old gods, prophetic words. I want to talk to Utnapishtim! Tell me how.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-mason/don-t-moralize-at-me-i-have-no-love-for-images-old-gods-prophetic/) [Herbert Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-mason/) > [I think, when you survive any intense experience, people try to moralize you; a lot of people just try to raise you high, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clemantine-wamariya/i-think-when-you-survive-any-intense-experience-people-try-to/) [Clemantine Wamariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clemantine-wamariya/) ## More by Kenneth Minogue > [“An ideological movement is a collection of people many of whom could hardly bake a cake, fix a car, sustain a friendship or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/an-ideological-movement-is-a-collection-of-people-many-of-whom-could/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [ “Their \[realists'\] concern is that utopian aspirations towards a new peaceful world order will simply absolutize conflicts and make them more intractable. National interests… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/their-realists-concern-is-that-utopian-aspirations-towards-a-new/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/politics-is-the-activity-by-which-the-framework-of-human-life-is/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“From Hobbes’s theory of the sovereign ruling by authority to Max Weber 250 years later, defining the state in terms of a monopoly of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/from-hobbes-s-theory-of-the-sovereign-ruling-by-authority-to-max/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [Moral vices prosper by dressing themselves as virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/moral-vices-prosper-by-dressing-themselves-as-virtues/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [Capitalism is what people do if you leave them alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/capitalism-is-what-people-do-if-you-leave-them-alone/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“Dynasties rise and fall according to what the Chinese used to call ‘the mandate of heaven’, but life for the peasant changes little.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/dynasties-rise-and-fall-according-to-what-the-chinese-used-to-call/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“The story of liberalism, as liberals tell it, is rather like the legend of St. George and the dragon. After many centuries of hopelessness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/the-story-of-liberalism-as-liberals-tell-it-is-rather-like-the-legend/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“My concern with democracy is highly specific. It begins in observing the remarkable fact that, while democracy means a government accountable to the electorate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/my-concern-with-democracy-is-highly-specific-it-begins-in-observing/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [If the central contest of the twentieth century has pitted capitalism against socialism, then F. A. Hayek has been its central figure. He helped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/if-the-central-contest-of-the-twentieth-century-has-pitted-capitalism/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“Public respect for politicians has long been declining, even as the population at large has been seduced into responding to each new problem by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/public-respect-for-politicians-has-long-been-declining-even-as-the/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [Theodore Dalrymple is a brilliant observer of both medicine and society, and his book wittily engages with two versions of the current nonsense: orthodox…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/theodore-dalrymple-is-a-brilliant-observer-of-both-medicine-and/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“Olympianism is the characteristic belief system of today’s secularist, and it has itself many of the features of a religion. For one thing, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/olympianism-is-the-characteristic-belief-system-of-today-s-secularist/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“To be conservative in politics is to take one’s bearings not from the latest bright idea about how to make a better world, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/to-be-conservative-in-politics-is-to-take-one-s-bearings-not-from-the/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) > [“The evident problem with democracy today is that the state is pre-empting—or “crowding out,” as the economists say—our moral judgments. Rulers are adding moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-minogue/the-evident-problem-with-democracy-today-is-that-the-state-is-pre/) [Kenneth Minogue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) [Explore all 19 Kenneth Minogue quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-minogue/) ## More Moralize quotes > [“You could not moralize children out of growing up. Or teach them how to do it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/you-could-not-moralize-children-out-of-growing-up-or-teach-them-how/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [“Don't moralize at me! I have no love For images, old gods, prophetic words. I want to talk to Utnapishtim! Tell me how.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-mason/don-t-moralize-at-me-i-have-no-love-for-images-old-gods-prophetic/) [Herbert Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-mason/) > [Don't you dare unload all this on me! You the extremes, you could've stopped it! And now you have the gall to moralize!?!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahj-wilson/don-t-you-dare-unload-all-this-on-me-you-the-extremes-you-could-ve/) [Tahj Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahj-wilson/) > [We moralize among ruins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/we-moralize-among-ruins/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [The temptation to moralize is strong; it is emotionally satisfying to have enemies rather than problems, to seek out culprits rather than the flaws…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-sloane-coffin/the-temptation-to-moralize-is-strong-it-is-emotionally-satisfying-to/) [William Sloane Coffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-sloane-coffin/) > [We used to moralize; today we normalize, and performance anxiety is the secular version of our old religious guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/we-used-to-moralize-today-we-normalize-and-performance-anxiety-is-the/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [When we talk politics, we moralize. When we talk morality, we politicize.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/when-we-talk-politics-we-moralize-when-we-talk-morality-we-politicize/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [If we say that anyone who 'moralizes' must be perfect morally then we are in effect saying no one can moralize.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonah-goldberg/if-we-say-that-anyone-who-moralizes-must-be-perfect-morally-then-we/) [Jonah Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-goldberg/) > [Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my song.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-spenser/fierce-warres-and-faithfull-loves-shall-moralize-my-song/) [Edmund Spenser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-spenser/) > [I think, when you survive any intense experience, people try to moralize you; a lot of people just try to raise you high, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clemantine-wamariya/i-think-when-you-survive-any-intense-experience-people-try-to/) [Clemantine Wamariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clemantine-wamariya/) [Browse all 11 Moralize quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moralize-1058323/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“However ignorant a person may be, he or she can always moralize. 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