No one is innocent after the experience of governing. But not everyone is guilty.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Culture is the foundation of society's success, while politics has the power to influence and improve culture.
This quote by Daniel Patrick Moynihan highlights a fundamental tension between conservatism and liberalism. It suggests that the core strength of a society comes from its cultural values and traditions, which shape collective success. At the same time, it acknowledges that political actions and policies can have a significant impact on culture, potentially steering it towards positive transformation. The interplay between culture and politics is crucial for understanding social dynamics and the evolution of societies.
Themes
CulturePoliticsSocietySuccessChange
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on social change at a community forum.
More from Daniel Patrick Moynihan
All quotes →If the newspapers of a country are filled with good news, the jails of that country will be filled with good people.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
When a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, he can bet there are good men in jail.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
The richest inheritance any child can have is a stable, loving, disciplined family life.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
We must not let ourselves be seen as rushing around the world looking for arguments... Nor should we let ourselves be seen as ignoring allies, disillusioning friends, thinking only of ourselves in the most narrow terms. That is not how we survived the 20th century. Nor will it serve in the 21st.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanRead
Similar quotes
Incidentally, one of the most worrying problems in the impact of Western modernity on traditional culture is that it quite rapidly communicates its own indifference or anxiety or even hostility about age and ageing.
Rowan WilliamsRead
I and my public understand each other very well: it does not hear what I say, and I don't say what it wants to hear.
Karl KrausRead
I readily admit it is easy to make of horses what we will. Silent, in some ways reserved, they allow us to train them, and to project our ideas upon them; to ride and drive them, and to make them symbolic, perhaps to a greater degree than any other species.
Jane SmileyRead
Those who cannot renounce attachment to the results of their work are far from the path.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Humans were denied the speech of animals. The only common ground of communication upon which dogs and men can get together is in fiction.
O. HenryRead
It has served us well, this myth of Christ.
Pope Leo XRead