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Robert Hunter (author) Quotes
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Robert Hunter was an American sociologist, progressive author, and golf course architect.

✵ 10. April 1874 – 14. May 1942
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Robert Hunter (author) Quotes

“The Pharisees were orthodox Jews, deeply concerned with the affairs of the Church and conscientious observers of all its ceremonies. They held its chief offices, occupied the chief places at the feasts, and sat in the chief seats in the synagogues…. Who then could have been more astonished than they when, like a thunderbolt from the sky, came the simplest, clearest, most concise and yet complete statement of fundamental religious truth that has ever been uttered? In twenty-eight words Jesus stated for all time and in a manner that may be understood by everybody, the fundamental basis of Christianity—"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all mind… And Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 92-93

Love , God , Truth , Soul

“There existed democratic aspirations, if not indeed a strong under-current of revolt, among the Jewish masses; and when it was said that the poor heard Jesus gladly, it was no doubt partly because he shared the views of these Old Testament prophets upon the iniquity of riches.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 88

Strong

“In recent centuries the only near spiritual relative of Tolstoy is the English poet, who in the fourteenth century, in the form of Piers Plowman, preached religious ideas so strikingly like those of Tolstoy. They are both individualists and they seek individual, not social, regeneration. …Both point to the simple toiling God-fearing peasant as one expressing the ideal of the Christian life and service.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 29-30

Life , God , Fear , Idea

“To live miserable we know not why, to have the dread of hunger, to work sore and yet gain nothing—this is the essence of poverty.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 2

Hunger

“He [Tolstoy] did not believe in the political action advocated by the socialist party. He thought it futile to change the personnel of the Government, and it appeared to him that the making of new laws is an absurdity which could effect no change in conditions.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 72

Law , Appearance , Change

“Among them exists an immense opportunity for the spread of views such as Tolstoy held, but instead of espousing their cause or seeking in any manner to organize the peasants for cooperative action, he [Tolstoy] invariably taught them submission, nonresistance to evil, loyalty to their masters, and the most extreme form of Christian humility and service.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 69

Evil , Loyalty

“Serfs and slaves were always given at least enough to keep them physically well. But present-day society has ignored the wisdom of this fair provision.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 8

Wisdom

“Whatever in the gospel will not interfere with what we like to do, or feel we must do, we gladly believe; and to the rest we close our eyes. Most of us do this half-unconsciously, perhaps, but in our innermost selves we can hardly help knowing that we are not Christians, and that there is in the gospel something fundamental—a vital message, an essence—which we do not wish to understand.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 7

Feeling , Understanding , Help

“To those… who see in certain underlying economic forces, the source of nearly all of our distressing social evils, individual hatred and malice can make in reality no appeal.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Violence and the Labor Movement (1914), p.xii

Reality , Evil

“Throughout Bakounin's writings there appears again and again the plea for "terrible, total, inexorable, and universal destruction.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Violence and the Labor Movement (1914), p. 92

Universe , Appearance

“Without question, the causes, which produce on the one hand long hours and overemployment, result on the other hand in short periods of work, underemployment, or unemployment.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 28

Question

“He [Tolstoy] saw and deplored the beginning of a class struggle which has ended as we now know in Bolshevism. Class hatred and strife appeared to Tolstoy as frightfully immoral and unchristian and he pled fervently with the rich to change their manner of living.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 71

Appearance , Change

“The fundamental thing in all this is that every workman who is expected by society to remain independent of public relief and capable of self-support must be guaranteed, in so far as that is possible, an opportunity for obtaining those necessaries essential to physical efficiency. Such a standard is the basis of almost everything; for, unless men can retain their physical efficiency, they must degenerate.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 6-7

Men , Support

“If it be true that doctrines have naught to do with the spread of terrorism, why is it that among many million socialists there are almost no terrorists, while among a few thousand anarchists there are many terrorists?”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Violence and the Labor Movement (1914), p. 91

“Although Tolstoy in his protest recognized the fact that he was bound up with all others, neither this nor the knowledge of his individual helplessness induced him to work with others in order to change any part of the infamous governmental system of Russia.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 67

Knowledge , Change , Parting

“In seeking what to do, Tolstoy was materially helped by a remarkable workingman, Basil Soutaieff, who was actually following as perfectly as he knew how, the example of Jesus…. When asked, "What is truth?" he answered with conviction, "Truth is love in a common life." When his devotion to the unfortunate, the hungry, and the needy became known to Tolstoy, it had a profound influence upon his thought and eventually worked an entire transformation in his manner of living.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 23

Love , Life , Truth , Help

“He [Tolstoy] tried to persuade his wife to permit him to give away every penny of his possessions, to leave their large house, and to live in a peasant's cottage, where together they could share the manual labor of a small farm. The Countess was a most devoted wife but in this she could not follow her husband. …The Countess had to suffer all the trials which it is said the wife of every artist and genius must suffer and, in addition, some of those that must come to the wife of any man who tries to follow literally in modern society the teachings of Jesus. …He felt so keenly the opposition of his wife and children that he was led to believe what he said repeatedly—that the institution of the family was one of the greatest obstacles to a truly Christian life.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 38-41

Life , Children , Family , Suffering

“All mankind—rich and poor, men, women, and children, stood like a rock against any spread of Tolstoy's theories. He was really alone, and although he seemed universally admired and much that he said wielded great influence, his practical program for the spread of Christianity was, curiously enough, inacceptable to every class and condition of society, not only in Russia, but everywhere.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 80

Women , Men , Children , Universe

“It was not until Mr. Charles Booth published in 1891 the results of his exhaustive inquiries that the actual conditions of poverty in London became known. …about 30 per cent of the entire population of London were found to be unable to obtain the necessaries for a sound livelihood. …About ten years later Mr. B. S. Rountree incited by the work of Mr. Booth undertook a similar inquiry in his native town York. …His comments are as follows: "…we are faced by the startling probability that from 25 to 30 per cent of the town populations of the United Kingdom are living in poverty."”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 17-19

“Shall we admit that there is a duel between society and these souls deranged by the wrongs of society?”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Violence and the Labor Movement (1914), p. 94

Soul

“Mr. Jacob A. Riis, a few years ago, used some figures which showed that about one-third of the people of New York City were dependent upon charity at some time during the eight years previous to 1890. The report of the United Hebrew Charities for 1901 shows very similar conditions existing among the Jewish population of New York. But even more astonishing than all other facts we have are those furnished by the State Board of Charities... The poverty of New York State is enormous. In actual figures as reduced, the persons in distress in 1897 number… about 19 per cent of the people of New York and in 1899 they number… about 18 per cent. …If the figures are correct as published the persons in New York State in distress in 1897 and in Boston in 1903 would equal proportionately the number of those in poverty in London.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 22

People , Time , Dependency , Personality

“Another workingman named Bóndaref, was also of immense practical help to Tolstoy, chiefly through his remarkable book "Industry and Idleness.".. Bóndaref insists that the "chief, primary, and most immutable" law for humanity is that every man must earn his own bread with his own hands. "Bread labor," as thus understood, includes all heavy rough work necessary to save man from death by hunger and cold and this bread includes, of course, food, drink, clothes, shelter, and fuel…. As the world has rarely heard such teachings since the days of the Apostles and the early Christian Fathers, Tolstoy seemed to consider Bóndaref as the discoverer of a new truth which he eagerly accepted as fundamental to a just life…. he emphasized the point that children must he taught above all things to do hard productive labor. They must be taught to be ashamed from the very beginning to use, and profit by, the labor of others.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 24-25

Life , Death , Hunger , Children

“Already in this country, as a result of the recent controversy, it is written in the constitution of the socialist party that "any member of the party who opposes political action or advocates crime, sabotage, or other methods of violence as a weapon of the working class to aid in its emancipation shall be expelled from membership in the party." Adopted by the national convention of the party in 1911, this clause was ratified at a general referendum of all the membership of the party. It is clear, therefore, that the immense majority of socialists are determined to employ peaceable and legal methods of action.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Violence and the Labor Movement (1914), p. ix

Country

“To continue in poverty for any long period means in the end the loss of the power of doing work, and to be unable to work means in the end pauperism.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 7

Loss

“Those who are in poverty may be able to get a bare sustenance but they are not able to obtain those necessaries which will permit them to maintain a state of physical efficiency.”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Poverty (1912), p. 5

“Tolstoy's suggestions created no enthusiasm among the people. All.. seemed to be more than eager for Russia to hasten along the path already traversed by western civilization”

Robert Hunter (author)

Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 73

People

“The Pharisees were orthodox Jews, deeply concerned with the affairs of the Church and conscientious observers of all its ceremonies. They held its chief offices, occupied the chief places at the feasts, and sat in the chief seats in the synagogues. …Who then could have been more astonished than they when, like a thunderbolt from the sky, came the simplest, clearest, most concise and yet complete statement of fundamental religious truth that has ever been uttered?”

Robert Hunter (author)

In twenty-eight words Jesus stated for all time and in a manner that may be understood by everybody, the fundamental basis of Christianity—"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all mind... And Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Source: Why We Fail as Christians (1919), p. 92-93

Truth