“I am doing my best to glorify the scamp or vagabond.”

Source: The Importance of Living (1937), Ch. I : The Awakening, p. 12
Context: I am doing my best to glorify the scamp or vagabond. I hope I shall succeed. For things are not so simple as they sometimes seem. In this present age of threats to democracy and individual liberty, probably only the scamp and the spirit of the scamp alone will save us from being lost in serially numbered units in the masses of disciplined, obedient, regimented and uniformed coolies. The scamp will be the last and most formidable enemy of dictatorships. He will be the champion of human dignity and individual freedom, and will be the last to be conquered. All modern civilization depends entirely upon him.

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 "I am doing my best to glorify the scamp or vagabond." by Lin Yutang?
Lin Yutang photo
Lin Yutang 67
Chinese writer 1895–1976

Related quotes

Gregory of Nazianzus photo
Dolly Parton photo
Joyce Meyer photo
V. V. Giri photo

“I am conscious of my shortcomings, but I have always tried as an honest worker to a do a job to the best of my ability and judgment.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

In:P.83
Presidents of India, 1950-2003

Sophie Scholl photo

“I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation. I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct.”

Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) White Rose member

Response to the closing question of whether she hadn't "indeed come to the conclusion that your conduct and the actions along with your brother and other persons in the present phase of the war should be seen as a crime against the community, but in particular against our troops fighting arduously in the east, that merits the severest sentence?" in the official examination transcripts (February 1943); Bundesarchiv Berlin, ZC 13267, Bd. 3 http://www.bpb.de/themen/5H3ZT3,3,0,Ausz%FCge_aus_den_Verh%F6rprotokollen_von_Sophie_Scholl.html#art3

Davy Crockett photo
Pelé photo
Gerald Ford photo

“I am a Ford, not a Lincoln. My addresses will never be as eloquent as Mr. Lincoln's. But I will do my very best to equal his brevity and his plain speaking.”

Gerald Ford (1913–2006) American politician, 38th President of the United States (in office from 1974 to 1977)

1970s, First Vice-Presidential address (1973)

Related topics