Hans Morgenthau book Politics Among Nations
Source: Politics Among Nations (1948), p. 27 (1954 edition)
Hans Morgenthau book Politics Among Nations
Source: Politics Among Nations (1948), p. 27 (1954 edition)
“The reason that university politics is so vicious is that the stakes are so small.”
Henry Kissinger (1923–2023) United States Secretary of State
This remark was first attributed to Kissinger, among others, in the 1970s. The Quote Verifier (2006) attributes it to political scientist Paul Sayre, but notes earlier similar remarks by Woodrow Wilson. Clyde J. Wingfield referred to it as a familiar joke in The American University (1970)
Unattributed variants:
Somebody once said that one of the reasons academic infighting is so vicious is that the stakes are so small. There's so little at stake and they are so nasty about it.
The Craft of Crime : Conversations with Crime Writers (1983) by John C. Carr
The reason that academic politics is so vicious is that the stakes are so small.
Mentioned as an "old saw" in Teachers for Our Nation's Schools (1990) by John I. Goodlad
Misattributed
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
1930s, Quarantine Speech (1937)
Context: Those who cherish their freedom and recognize and respect the equal right of their neighbors to be free and live in peace must work together for the triumph of law and moral principles in order that peace, justice, and confidence may prevail in the world. There must be a return to a belief in the pledged word, in the value of a signed treaty. There must be recognition of the fact that national morality is as vital as private morality.
“It is reasonable that everyone who asks justice should do justice”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) American theologian
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 342.
Lysander Spooner book No Treason
Source: No Treason (1867–1870), No. VI: The Constitution of No Authority, p. 16–17
Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) French sociologist, technology critic, and Christian anarchist
Source: The Ethics of Freedom (1973 - 1974), p. 254
Kurt Vonnegut book The Sirens of Titan
Source: The Sirens of Titan (1959), Chapter 7 “Victory” (p. 165; epigram)