--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Persecution in intellectual countries…" description: "\"Persecution in intellectual countries produces a superficial conformity, but also underneath an intense, incessant, implacable doubt.\" — Walter Bagehot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/walter-bagehot-3686_conformity_persecution-in-intellectual-countries-pr_1888006.png" --- # Persecution in intellectual countries produces a… ![“Persecution in intellectual countries produces a superficial conformity, but also underneath an intense, incessant, implacable doubt.” quote by Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/walter-bagehot-3686_conformity_persecution-in-intellectual-countries-pr_1888006.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/walter-bagehot-3686_conformity_persecution-in-intellectual-countries-pr_1888006.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b55/walter-bagehot-3686_conformity_persecution-in-intellectual-countries-pr_1888006.png) > “Persecution in intellectual countries produces a superficial conformity, but also underneath an intense, incessant, implacable doubt.” [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Superficial conformity masks deep, relentless doubt in repressive societies. **In simple terms:** Conformity hides doubt. Key Takeaway Question assumptions, seek truth. Themes conformity doubt intellectual freedom Mood critical reflective Type philosophical political When to use this quote - academic discourse - political activism - personal reflection Key Concepts political psychology social control Questions to Reflect On - How does hidden doubt affect societal progress? - What fuels the relentless doubt? A Different Perspective Doubt may persist despite outward compliance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conformity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conformity/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doubt/) [Implacable Doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/implacable-doubt-2708517/) [Incessant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incessant/) [Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual/) [Intellectual Countries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual-countries-1527979/) [Intense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intense/) [Persecution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persecution/) [Persecution Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persecution-intellectual-2708515/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Propaganda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propaganda/) [Superficial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superficial/) [Superficial Conformity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superficial-conformity-2708516/) ## Related quotes > [Jobs that require a suit upset me. 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KHARIS: 'Does Mr. Celine seriously suggest that the United States Government is in need of a guardian?' MR. CELINE: 'I am merely offering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anton-wilson/mr-kharis-does-mr-celine-seriously-suggest-that-the-united-states/) [Robert Anton Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anton-wilson/) > [We live with incessant music, all the time. It's like some weird musical purgatory, there is absolutely no rest for the ears, no space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-blake/we-live-with-incessant-music-all-the-time-it-s-like-some-weird/) [James Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-blake/) > [The mark of genius is an incessant activity of mind. Genius is a spiritual greed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-pritchett/the-mark-of-genius-is-an-incessant-activity-of-mind-genius-is-a/) [V. S. Pritchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-pritchett/) > [What is the world, O soldiers? It is I, I, this incessant snow, This northern sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-de-la-mare/what-is-the-world-o-soldiers-it-is-i-i-this-incessant-snow-this/) [Walter de La Mare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-de-la-mare/) > [You & I, Love, together we ratify the silence, while the sea destroys its perpetual statues, collapses its towers of wild speed and whiteness:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-neruda/you-i-love-together-we-ratify-the-silence-while-the-sea-destroys-its/) [Pablo Neruda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-neruda/) > [I am already sensible of decay in the power of walking, and find my memory not so faithful as it used to be. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/i-am-already-sensible-of-decay-in-the-power-of-walking-and-find-my/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Silence? What can New York-noisy, roaring, rumbling, tumbling, bustling, story, turbulent New York-have to do with silence? Amid the universal clatter, the incessant din…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/silence-what-can-new-york-noisy-roaring-rumbling-tumbling-bustling/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-hamilton/it-will-be-of-little-avail-to-the-people-that-the-laws-are-made-by/) [Alexander Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-hamilton/) > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ## More by Walter Bagehot > [But of all nations in the world the English are perhaps the least a nation of pure philosophers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/but-of-all-nations-in-the-world-the-english-are-perhaps-the-least-a/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [The Sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy such as ours, three rights - the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/the-sovereign-has-under-a-constitutional-monarchy-such-as-ours-three/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [The most essential mental quality for a free people, whose liberty is to be progressive, permanent and on a large scale, is much stupidity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/the-most-essential-mental-quality-for-a-free-people-whose-liberty-is/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [Adventure is the life of commerce, but caution is the life of banking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/adventure-is-the-life-of-commerce-but-caution-is-the-life-of-banking/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [A severe though not unfriendly critic of our institutions said that the cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/a-severe-though-not-unfriendly-critic-of-our-institutions-said-that/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous person with a mean mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/nothing-is-more-unpleasant-than-a-virtuous-person-with-a-mean-mind/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [What impresses men is not mind, but the result of mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/what-impresses-men-is-not-mind-but-the-result-of-mind/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [An inability to stay quiet is one of the conspicuous failings of mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/an-inability-to-stay-quiet-is-one-of-the-conspicuous-failings-of/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [Most men of business think "Anyhow this system will probably last my time. It has gone on a long time, and is likely to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/most-men-of-business-think-anyhow-this-system-will-probably-last-my/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [Life is a school of probability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/life-is-a-school-of-probability/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [When great questions end, little parties begin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/when-great-questions-end-little-parties-begin/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [The peculiar essence of our banking system is an unprecedented trust between man and man. And when that trust is much weakened by hidden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/the-peculiar-essence-of-our-banking-system-is-an-unprecedented-trust/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not knowing what is going on in other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/the-habit-of-common-and-continuous-speech-is-a-symptom-of-mental/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [Not only does a bureaucracy tend to under-government in point of quality; it tends to over-government in point of quantity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/not-only-does-a-bureaucracy-tend-to-under-government-in-point-of/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) > [In early times every sort of advantage tends to become a military advantage; such is the best way, then, to keep it alive. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-bagehot/in-early-times-every-sort-of-advantage-tends-to-become-a-military/) [Walter Bagehot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) [Explore all 123 Walter Bagehot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-bagehot/) ## More Conformity quotes > [“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-supertramp-chris-mccandless/so-many-people-live-within-unhappy-circumstances-and-yet-will-not/) [Alexander Supertramp Chris McCandless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-supertramp-chris-mccandless/) > [“All to often, on the long road up, young leaders become servants of what is rather than shapers of what might be.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-gardner/all-to-often-on-the-long-road-up-young-leaders-become-servants-of/) [John Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-gardner/) > [The Chains of conformity click in tiresomely monotonous unison.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-sweet/the-chains-of-conformity-click-in-tiresomely-monotonous-unison/) [Leonard Sweet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-sweet/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [A self is a frightening thing to waste, it's the lens through which one's whole life is viewed, and few people are willing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-ackerman/a-self-is-a-frightening-thing-to-waste-it-s-the-lens-through-which/) [Diane Ackerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-ackerman/) > [Ideation is not a synonym for innovation, conformity is not its simple antonym, and innovation is not the automatic consequence of "creative thinking.".](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-levitt/ideation-is-not-a-synonym-for-innovation-conformity-is-not-its-simple/) [Theodore Levitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-levitt/) > [“I lead with the knowingness that my reality conforms to my wishes and desires instantly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-s-baker/i-lead-with-the-knowingness-that-my-reality-conforms-to-my-wishes-and/) [Robin S. Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-s-baker/) > [Alas, everything that men say to one another is alike; the ideas they exchange are almost always the same, in their conversation. But inside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-de-musset/alas-everything-that-men-say-to-one-another-is-alike-the-ideas-they/) [Alfred de Musset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-de-musset/) > [The search for truth is a cooperative, unending endeavor. We can, and should, engage in it to the extent we can and encourage others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-search-for-truth-is-a-cooperative-unending-endeavor-we-can-and/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Seeds have the power to preserve species, to enhance cultural as well as genetic diversity, to counter economic monopoly and to check the advance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-pollan/seeds-have-the-power-to-preserve-species-to-enhance-cultural-as-well/) [Michael Pollan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-pollan/) > [“Brontë was attempting to depict a character that adheres to the unchanging principles of her faith though she refused conformity to the particular practices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-swallow-prior/bront-was-attempting-to-depict-a-character-that-adheres-to-the/) [Karen Swallow Prior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-swallow-prior/) > [Officers conditioned to conformity in peacetime cannot be expected to behave boldly and flexibly in combat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-yingling/officers-conditioned-to-conformity-in-peacetime-cannot-be-expected-to/) [Paul Yingling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-yingling/) > [The more civilized a nation, the more conformed its population, until that civilization's last age arrives, when multiplicity wages war with conformity. 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