"To be conservative, then, is to prefer the……" — Michael Joseph Oakeshott
"To be conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss."
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Michael Joseph Oakeshott
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10 Quotes by Michael Joseph Oakeshott
Michael Joseph Oakeshott has 10 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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Political action involves mental vulgarity, not merely because it entails the occurrence and support of those who are mentally vulgar,…
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Like Midas, the Rationalist is always in the unfortunate position of not being able to touch anything, without transforming it…
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In political activity . . . men sail a boundless and bottomless sea; there is neither harbour for shelter nor…
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A recorded past is no more than a bygone present composed of the footprints made by human beings actually going…
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Education is ... the invitation to disentangle oneself, for a time, from the urgencies of the here and now and…
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Poetry is a sort of truancy, a dream within the dream of life, a wild flower planted among our wheat.
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This, I believe, is the appropriate image of human intercourse -- appropriate because it recognizes the qualities, the diversities, and…
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The rule of law bakes no bread, it is unable to distribute loaves or fishes (it has none), and it…
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History is what the evidence compels us to believe.
See all 10 quotes by Michael Joseph Oakeshott »
More Actual Quotes
This quote is filed under Actual Quotes,
one of 1,266 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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The fatigue produced on the muscles of the human frame does not altogether depend on the actual force employed in…
— Charles Babbage
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Where do we say that a cell became a blade of grass, which became a starfish, which became a cat,…
— Michele Bachmann
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The Canadian run can be no different, at least in terms of actual running.
— Dennis Banks
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Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting.
— Dave Barry
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I do love to eavesdrop. It's inspirational, not only for subject matter but for actual dialogue, the way people talk.
— Lynda Barry
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Percentage margins don't matter. What matters always is dollar margins: the actual dollar amount. Companies are valued not on their…
— Jeff Bezos
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It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.
— Ambrose Bierce
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Sure, I suffered a lot. But it's not like the end of the world and it's not who I am.…
— Ben Affleck
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I've thought for the last decade or so, the only actual place raw truth was seeping through in newspapers was…
— Elayne Boosler
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The importance to the writer of first writing must be out of all proportion of the actual value of what…
— Elizabeth Bowen
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Congress acknowledged that society's accumulated myths and fears about disability and disease are as handicapping as are the physical limitations…
— William J. Brennan
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You don't want flame to hit your food. Flame is bad. Flame does nasty things to food. It makes soot…
— Alton Brown
See all 1,266 Actual Quotes »