“Scratch a pessimist and you find often a defender of privilege.”

As quoted in "Sayings of the Week" in The Observer [London] (17 December 1943)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Scratch a pessimist and you find often a defender of privilege." by William Beveridge?
William Beveridge photo
William Beveridge 10
Economist and social reformer 1879–1963

Related quotes

David Lloyd George photo

“If you scratch a Conservative, you find a Fascist.”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech to the London Young Liberal Federation in the National Liberal Club (5 January 1925), quoted in John Campbell, Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness, 1922–1931 (1977), p. 109
Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons

Austen Chamberlain photo

“Scratch me and you will find the Nonconformist.”

Austen Chamberlain (1863–1937) British politician

1927. Quoted in Sir Charles Petrie, The Life and Letters of Sir Austen Chamberlain: Vol. II (Cassell, 1940), p. 321.
1920s

Israel Zangwill photo

“Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan — spoiled.”

Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) British writer

Children of the Ghetto (1892), bk. 2, ch. 6.

George Carlin photo

“Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Variant: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.

George Bernard Shaw photo

“Scratch an Englishman and find a Protestant.”

Saint Joan : A Chronicle Play In Six Scenes And An Epilogue (1923)
1920s

Jessica Minh Anh photo

“You do not have to be privileged to find your place in the world.”

Jessica Minh Anh (1988) Vietnamese model

Jessica Minh Anh (2015) cited in: " Catwalk of the future! Top model to mix haute couture, thousands of mirrors, a 100-metre runway and DRONES... at the world's first solar-powered fashion show https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3077404/Model-mix-haute-couture-DRONES-thousands-mirrors-100-metre-runway-solar-power-plant-Spain.html" in Daily Mail, 12 May 2015.

Dorothy Parker photo

“The sweeter the apple, the blacker the core. Scratch a lover and find a foe!”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Source: Enough Rope

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“None are so interested in maintaining the institutions of the country as the working classes. The rich and the powerful will not find much difficulty under any circumstances in maintaining their rights, but the privileges of the people can only be defended and secured by popular institutions.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: Letter to a working men's club (1867), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (London: John Murray, 1929), p. 297.

Peter M. Senge photo
John Kenneth Galbraith photo

Related topics