A man needs to look, not down, but up to standards set so much above his ordinary self as to make him feel that he is himself spiritually the underdo…

- Irving Babbitt

The humanitarian lays stress almost solely upon breadth of knowledge and sympathy.

- Irving Babbitt

If quantitatively the American achievement is impressive, qualitatively it is somewhat less satisfying.

- Irving Babbitt

A democracy, the realistic observer is forced to conclude, is likely to be idealistic in its feelings about itself, but imperialistic about its pract…

- Irving Babbitt

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

- Irving Babbitt

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

- Irving Babbitt

It is well to open one's mind but only as a preliminary to closing it ... for the supreme act of judgment and selection.

- Irving Babbitt

If a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama.

- Irving Babbitt

Robespierre, however, was not the type of leader finally destined to emerge from the Revolution.

- Irving Babbitt