"I have hinted that what people are afraid of in democracy is less the thing itself than what they conceive to be its necessary adjuncts and consequences. It is supposed to reduce all mankind to a dead level of mediocrity in character and culture, to vulgarize men's conceptions of life, and therefore their code of morals, manners, and conduct — to endanger the rights of property and possession. But I believe that the real gravamen of the charges lies in the habit it has of making itself generally disagreeable by asking the Powers that Be at the most inconvenient moment whether they are the powers that ought to be. If the powers that be are in a condition to give a satisfactory answer to this inevitable question, they need feel in no way discomfited by it."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Essayists from the United StatesEditors from the United StatesAbolitionistsUnitarians from the United States19th-century poets from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Russell_Lowell
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell (22 February 1819 – 12 August 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets.
175 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by James Russell Lowell →
Related Quotes
"Strach má velké oči."
"It may be glorious to write Thoughts that shall glad the two or three High souls, like those far stars that come in s…"
"It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested."
"From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature’s text; And embryo Good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the …"
"They came three thousand miles, and died, To keep the Past upon its throne; Unheard, beyond the ocean tide, Their Eng…"
"There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates."
"New times demand new measures and new men; The world advances, and in time outgrows The laws which in our father's ti…"
"The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers, is that which is woven of conviction and set with…"
"When I was a beggarly boy, And lived in a cellar damp, I had not a friend nor a toy, But I had Aladdin's lamp."
"All thoughts that mould the age begin Deep down within the primitive soul."