"To be conservative in politics is to take one’s bearings not from the latest bright idea about how to make a better world, but by looking carefully at what the past reveals both about the kind of people we are and the problems that concern us. As we get older, we often become conservative in our habits, in our family practices, and in our recognition of the richness of our civilization, but this evolution of our character into a set of habits in no way blocks adventurousness. The old no less than the young may be found starting new enterprises, sailing around the world, and solving arcane academic questions. But it is in the ordinary business of life that we find our excitement, not in foolish collective dreams of political perfection."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Kenneth Minogue "The Elusive Oakeshott: Michael Oakeshott taught conservatism as practical wisdom, not philosophy" on theamericanconservative.com, October 1, 2009.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_Minogue
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Kenneth Minogue
Kenneth Minogue (September 11, 1930 – June 28, 2013) was an Australian author and political theorist.
21 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Kenneth Minogue →
Related Quotes
"bent on destroying the autonomy of the institutions of civil society"
"a network of powerful bureaucracies"
"radical doctrines to bear on all areas of governmental concern"
"create a totally androgynous (and manipulable) world where men and women would become virtually indistinguishable."
"replace achievement with quota entitlements."
"is its openness to talent wherever found, the feminist demand for collective quotas has overturned the basic feature …"
"An ideological movement is a collection of people many of whom could hardly bake a cake, fix a car, sustain a friends…"
"Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself."
"In a despotic government, the ultimate principle of order issues from the inclinations of the despot himself. Yet des…"
"Europeans have sometimes been beguiled by a despotism that comes concealed in the seductive form of an ideal – as it …"