A democracy, the realistic observer is forced to conclude, is likely to be idealistic in its feelings about itself, but imperialistic about its practice.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

A person who has sympathy for mankind in the lump, faith in its future progress, and desire to serve the great cause of this progress, should be called not a humanist, but a humanitarian, and his creed may be designated as humanitarianism.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

Act strenuously, would appear to be our faith, and right thinking will take care of itself.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

An American of the present day reading his Sunday newspaper in a state of lazy collapse is one of the most perfect symbols of the triumph of quantity over quality that the world has yet seen.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

Anyone who thus looks up has some chance of becoming worthy to be looked up to in turn.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

Democracy is now going forth on a crusade against imperialism.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

For behind all imperialism is ultimately the imperialistic individual, just as behind all peace is ultimately the peaceful individual.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

If quantitatively the American achievement is impressive, qualitatively it is somewhat less satisfying.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

If we are to have such a discipline we must have standards, and to get our standards under existing conditions we must have criticism.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

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

The democratic idealist is prone to make light of the whole question of standards and leadership because of his unbounded faith in the plain people.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

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

The humanitarian lays stress almost solely upon breadth of knowledge and sympathy.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

The humanitarian would, of course, have us meddle in foreign affairs as part of his program of world service.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

The humanities need to be defended to-day against the encroachments of physical science, as they once needed to be against the encroachment of theology.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

The papacy again, representing the traditional unity of European civilization, has also shown itself unable to limit effectively the push of nationalism.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

The ultimate binding element in the medieval order was subordination to the divine will and its earthly representatives, notably the pope.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

To harmonize the One with the Many, this is indeed a difficult adjustment, perhaps the most difficult of all, and so important, withal, that nations have perished from their failure to achieve it.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

Very few of the early Italian humanists were really humane.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

We may affirm, then, that the main drift of the later Renaissance was away from a humanism that favored a free expansion toward a humanism that was in the highest degree disciplinary and selective.
- Irving Babbitt Quote

We must not, however, be like the leaders of the great romantic revolt who, in their eagerness to get rid of the husk of convention, disregarded also the humane aspiration.
- Irving Babbitt Quote