QuoteProject
An Honest politician will not be tolerated by a democracy unless he is very stupid ... because only a very stupid man can honestly share the prejudices of more than half the nation.
Bertrand Russell
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote critiques the incompatibility between honesty in politics and the prejudiced beliefs held by the majority of society.

Bertrand Russell's quote suggests that in a democratic system, an honest politician is often at odds with the prevailing prejudices of the populace. He implies that only a foolish person could genuinely align with the biased views that dominate public opinion, as true integrity would conflict with the majority's often unexamined beliefs. This highlights the challenges faced by those who seek to uphold honesty in a political landscape that rewards conformity to popular prejudices.

Themes

PoliticsHonestyDemocracyPrejudiceSociety

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a political debate to emphasize the importance of honesty.

More from Bertrand Russell

St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
Bertrand RussellRead
Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
Bertrand RussellRead
Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Bertrand RussellRead
At all times, except when a monarch could enforce his will, war has been facilitated by the fact that vigorous males, confident of victory, enjoyed it, while their females admired them for their prowess.
Bertrand RussellRead
Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Bertrand RussellRead
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
Bertrand RussellRead

Similar quotes

This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.
Harry S. TrumanRead
Demand the ballot as the undeniable right of every man who is called to the poll, and take special care that the old constitutional rule and principle, by which majorities alone shall decide in Parliamentary elections, shall not be violated.
John BrightRead
Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster.
James Harvey RobinsonRead
To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal
Henry A. KissingerRead
Communism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Leon TrotskyRead
If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle., unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs
James ConnollyRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.