Degenerates Quotes
More Degenerates Quotes
An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels.
— Albert Einstein, in Mein Weltbild (1931)
Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
john acton— Letter (23 January 1861), published in Lord Acton and his Circle (1906) by Abbot Gasquet, Letter 24
Poker teaches self-reliance, self-control, self-respect, self-denial, and independence. But when cards are wild or are given fictitious authority, the noble game is robbed of its romance, grace and stimulation and degenerates into a gambling scheme.
henry fountain ashurst— Johnson, James W. (2002). Arizona Politicians: The Noble and the Notorious, illustrations by David `Fitz' Fitzsimmons, University of Arizona Press. p 118.
Posterity always degenerates till it becomes our ancestors.
horace walpole— As quoted in "The Works of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford" in The Monthly Review, or, Literary Journal, Vol. 27 (1798) edited by Ralph Griffiths, p. 187.
Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
— John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, Letter (23 January 1861), published in Lord Acton and his Circle (1906) by Abbot Gasquet, Letter 24
Aristocracy has three successive ages, the age of superiorities, the age of privileges, and the age of vanities ; having passed out of the first, it degenerates in the second, and dies away in the third.
françois-rené de chateaubriand— Variants: Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiorities, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third.
Aristocracy has three successive ages. First superiority, then privileges and finally vanities. Having passed from the first, it degenerates in the second and dies in the third.Original version: L'aristocratie a trois âges successifs : l'âge des supériorités, l'âge des privilèges, l'âge des vanités ; sortie du premier, elle dégènère dans le second et s'éteint dans le dernier.Book I, Ch. 1 : The Vallé-aux-loups
If this just degenerates after a historic election, back into the usual bologna of politics in Washington and pettiness in Washington, then the American people I believe will move towards a third party in a massive way.
newt gingrich— In appearance on YouTube video (11 November 1994)
It is when it is contended that "in a democracy right is what the majority makes it to be" that democracy degenerates into demagoguery.
friedrich hayek— p. 94 (The Constitution of Liberty (1960))
How rare it is to come across a piece of writing that is unambiguous, unqualified, and also unblurred by understatements or subtleties, and yet at the same time urbane and tolerant. It is a vice of the scientific method when applied to human affairs that it fosters hemming and hawing and a scrupulousness that easily degenerates into obscurity and meaninglessness.
Eric Hoffer— Entry (1960)
Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.
— John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, letter (23 January 1861), published in Lord Acton and his Circle (1906) by Abbot Gasquet, Letter 24.
I have found no better expression than "religious" for confidence in the rational nature of reality, insofar as it is accessible to human reason. Whenever this feeling is absent, science degenerates into uninspired empiricism.
— Albert Einstein Letter to Maurice Solovine, (1 January 1951) [Einstein Archive 21-174]; published in Letters to Solovine (1993)
Somebody once declared that the only two political theories that are completely consistent are anarchy and totalitarianism. Anarchy fully embraces the concept of self, totalitarianism fully rejects that concept. Statism always degenerates into totalitarianism.
— Darrell Anderson, in "What Is Liberty?"
In periods that are wanting in inspiration piety always assumes the character of caution. It degenerates from a free and joyful devotion to a melancholy and anxious slavery.
— J. H. Seelye, p. 452. (Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895))
A game of cricket is at work from the first ball to the last in shaping an outline or design for itself. Sometimes the design degenerates into dullness and incompetence, but design there always is, and there is an interest even in the tracing of the course and impulse of its failures.
dudley carew— To the Wicket (1946)
