“Historical analogy is the last refuge of people who can't grasp the current situation.”

Frank Chalmers
Red Mars (1992)

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Kim Stanley Robinson 98
American science fiction writer 1952

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“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

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Boswell's full mention of this statement reads:
:Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.
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“Conformity is the last refuge of the unimaginitive”

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“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”

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“Jargon is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”

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Context: I was instructed long ago by a wise editor, "If you understand something you can explain it so that almost anyone can understand it. If you don't, you won't be able to understand your own explanation." That is why 90% of academic film theory is bullshit. Jargon is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

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“Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.”

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“Violence,” came the retort, “is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Variant: Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Source: Part II, The Encyclopedists, section 5; This also appears three times in "Bridle and Saddle" which is titled "The Mayors" within Foundation. It is derived from the famous phrase by Samuel Johnson: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" and from the words of Lady Anne Bellamy in H. Rider Haggard's Dawn, “I do not believe in violence; it is the last resource of fools.” Asimov is usually quoted simply with "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

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