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Richard Hofstadter Quotes

A university’s essential character is that of being a center of free inquiry and criticism - a thing not to be sacrificed for anything else Picture Quote #1

To be sick and helpless is a humiliating experience. Prolonged illness also carries the hazard of narcissistic self-absorption Picture Quote #1

The role of third parties is to sting like a bee, then die Picture Quote #1

Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege Picture Quote #1

It has been our fate as a nation not to have ideologies but to be one Picture Quote #1

To the zealot overcome by his piety and to the journeyman of ideas concerned only with his marketable mental skills, the beginning and end of ideas lies in their efficacy with respect to some goal external to intellectual processes Picture Quote #1

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Whatever the intellectual is too certain of, if he is healthily playful, he begins to find unsatisfactory. The meaning of his intellectual life lies not in the possession of truth but in the quest for new uncertainties Picture Quote #1

The nation seems to slouch onward into its uncertain future like some huge inarticulate beast, too much attainted by wounds and ailments to be robust, but too strong and resourceful to succumb Picture Quote #1

Intellect needs to be understood not as some kind of claim against the other human excellences for which a fatally high price has to be paid, but rather as a complement to them without which they cannot be fully consummated Picture Quote #1

There has always been in our national experience a type of mind which elevates hatred to a kind of creed; for this mind, group hatreds take a place in politics similar to the class struggle in some other modern societies Picture Quote #1

It is a part of the intellectual’s tragedy that the things he most values about himself and his work are quite unlike those society values in him Picture Quote #1

We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well Picture Quote #1

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The delicate thing about the university is that it has a mixed character, that it is suspended between its position in the eternal world, with all its corruption and evils and cruelties, and the splendid world of our imagination Picture Quote #1

If for every error and every act of incompetence one can substitute an act of treason, many points of fascinating interpretation are open to the paranoid imagination Picture Quote #1

It is a poor head that cannot find plausible reason for doing what the heart wants to do Picture Quote #1

As with the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of truth is itself gratifying whereas the consummation often turns out to be elusive Picture Quote #1

Intellectualism, though by no means confined to doubters, is often the sole piety of the skeptic Picture Quote #1

If there is anything more dangerous to the life of the mind than having no independent commitment to ideas, it is having an excess of commitment to some special and constricting idea Picture Quote #1

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To the reactionary ear every whispered criticism of the elite classes has always sounded like the opening shot of an uprising Picture Quote #1

The idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant Picture Quote #1

One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically, with the power and achievements of the very successful or with the needs and sufferings of the underprivileged Picture Quote #1

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Text Quotes

A university’s essential character is that of being a center of free inquiry and criticism - a thing not to be sacrificed for anything else. (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) To be sick and helpless is a humiliating experience. Prolonged illness also carries the hazard of narcissistic self-absorption (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) The role of third parties is to sting like a bee, then die (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) It has been our fate as a nation not to have ideologies but to be one (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) To the zealot overcome by his piety and to the journeyman of ideas concerned only with his marketable mental skills, the beginning and end of ideas lies in their efficacy with respect to some goal external to intellectual processes (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) Whatever the intellectual is too certain of, if he is healthily playful, he begins to find unsatisfactory. The meaning of his intellectual life lies not in the possession of truth but in the quest for new uncertainties (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) The nation seems to slouch onward into its uncertain future like some huge inarticulate beast, too much attainted by wounds and ailments to be robust, but too strong and resourceful to succumb (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) Intellect needs to be understood not as some kind of claim against the other human excellences for which a fatally high price has to be paid, but rather as a complement to them without which they cannot be fully consummated (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) There has always been in our national experience a type of mind which elevates hatred to a kind of creed; for this mind, group hatreds take a place in politics similar to the class struggle in some other modern societies (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) It is a part of the intellectual’s tragedy that the things he most values about himself and his work are quite unlike those society values in him (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) The delicate thing about the university is that it has a mixed character, that it is suspended between its position in the eternal world, with all its corruption and evils and cruelties, and the splendid world of our imagination (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) If for every error and every act of incompetence one can substitute an act of treason, many points of fascinating interpretation are open to the paranoid imagination (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) It is a poor head that cannot find plausible reason for doing what the heart wants to do (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) As with the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of truth is itself gratifying whereas the consummation often turns out to be elusive (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) Intellectualism, though by no means confined to doubters, is often the sole piety of the skeptic (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) If there is anything more dangerous to the life of the mind than having no independent commitment to ideas, it is having an excess of commitment to some special and constricting idea (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) To the reactionary ear every whispered criticism of the elite classes has always sounded like the opening shot of an uprising (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) The idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant (Richard Hofstadter Quotes) One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically, with the power and achievements of the very successful or with the needs and sufferings of the underprivileged (Richard Hofstadter Quotes)