Top 34 Quotes by Irving Babbitt

The humanitarian would, of course, have us meddle in foreign affairs as part of his program of world service.

The papacy again, representing the traditional unity of European civilization, has also shown itself unable to limit effectively the push of nationalism.

A remarkable feature of the humanitarian movement, on both its sentimental and utilitarian sides, has been its preoccupation with the lot of the masses.

To say that most of us today are purely expansive is only another way of saying that most of us continue to be more concerned with the quantity than with the quality of our democracy.

According to the new ethics, virtue is not restrictive but expansive, a sentiment and even an intoxication.

We must not, however, be like the leaders of the great romantic revolt who, in their eagerness to get rid of the husk of convention, disregarded also the humane aspiration.

The human mind, if it is to keep its sanity, must maintain the nicest balance between unity and plurality.

Since every man desires happiness, it is evidently no small matter whether he conceives of happiness in terms of work or of enjoyment.

Tell him, on the contrary, that he needs, in the interest of his own happiness, to walk in the path of humility and self-control, and he will be indifferent, or even actively resentful.

Act strenuously, would appear to be our faith, and right thinking will take care of itself.