"Had the Pilgrim Fathers been met on Plymouth Rock by immigration officials; had their children been placed immediately in good free schools, and given the care of doctors, dentists, and nurses; had they found themselves in infinitely better circumstances than they had ever enjoyed in England, indulging in undreamed-of luxuries, and taught by kind-hearted philanthropists,—what pioneer virtues would they have developed, what sons would they have bred, what honours would history have accorded them? If our early settlers were masterful, they earned the right to mastery, and the price they paid for it was endurance. To the sacrifices which they made, to their high courage and heroic labours, we owe law, liberty, and well-being."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Essayists from the United StatesPoets from the United StatesPeople from PhiladelphiaCatholics from the United StatesBiographers
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
in "The Modest Immigrant" (1916)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Agnes_Repplier
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Agnes Repplier
Agnes Repplier (1 April 1858 – 15 December 1950) was an American essayist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her essays are esteemed for their scholarship and wit.
12 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Agnes Repplier →
Related Quotes
"It is in his pleasures that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fabric of self."
"The necessity of knowing a little about a great many things is the most grievous burden of our day. It deprives us of…"
"[W]e ... know very well that we never learn unless we like our lesson, and never behave ourselves unless inspired by …"
"[W]hy should our self-appointed instructors assume that because we do not chatter about a thing, we have never heard …"
"People who pin their faith to a catchword never feel the necessity of understanding anything."
"We can reckon the cost of misdirected emotions by the price which the past has paid for them. We know the full signif…"
"The sentiment of to-day is social and philanthropic. ... [but] we must forever bear in mind that sentiment is subject…"
"What the world asks now are state reforms and social reforms,—in other words, the reformation of our neighbours. What…"
"The sanguine assurance that men and nations can be legislated into goodness, that pressure from without is equivalent…"
"War will pass when injustice passes. Never before, unless hope leaves the world."