“The real reason people are conservatives is that they are attached to the things that they love, and want to preserve them from abuse and decay. They are attached to their family, their friends, their religion, and their immediate environment. They have made a lifelong distinction between the things that nourish and the things that threaten their security and peace of mind.”

—  Roger Scruton

"Conservatism and the Conservatory," https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/427945/conservatism-and-conservatory, National Review (December 2015).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 26, 2024. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The real reason people are conservatives is that they are attached to the things that they love, and want to preserve t…" by Roger Scruton?
Roger Scruton photo
Roger Scruton45
English philosopher 1944–2020

Related quotes

Margaret Mitchell photo

“Then you've made the only choice. But there's a penalty attached, as there is to most things you want. It's loneliness.”

Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist

Beverly Sills photo

“Attachment to spiritual things is… just as much an attachment as inordinate love of anything else.”

Beverly Sills (1929–2007) opera soprano

Thomas Merton, in New Seeds of Contemplation (1961)
Misattributed

Byron Katie photo

“We don't attach to people or to things; we attach to uninvestigated concepts that we believe to tbe true in the moment.”

Byron Katie (1942) American spiritual writer

Source: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

“Remember me? I'm back to my old self again. No responsibilities, no attachments, no encumbrances. I don't want to own anything, love anyone, or get too attached to people, places or things. It's a rule that seems to work well for me.”

Danielle Steel Second Chance

Source: Second Chance

Peter F. Drucker photo

“People in any organization are always attached to the obsolete - the things that should have worked but did not, the things that once were productive and no longer are.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

Eckhart Tolle photo

“How do you let go of attachment to things? Don't even try. It's impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them.”

Eckhart Tolle book A New Earth

A New Earth (2005)

Gordon Neufeld photo

“Attachment is the most powerful force in the universe. We are meant to learn in the context of attachment about what we are attached to, and the things that serve our attachment needs.”

Gordon Neufeld (1947) Canadian psychologist

The Keys to Well-being in Students, Presentation to the X NIS International Conference, Astana, Kazakhstan, 26 October 2017 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8hG_p7sujU)

Margaret Mitchell photo

“Yes, I want money more than anything else in the world.”

“Then you’ve made the only choice. But there’s a penalty attached, as there is to most things you want. It’s loneliness.”

Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949) American author and journalist

Source: Gone With the Wind

Frithjof Schuon photo

“Love of God is firstly the attachment of the intelligence to the Truth, then the attachment of the will to the Good, and finally the attachment of the soul to the Peace that is given by the Truth and the Good.”

Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998) Swiss philosopher

[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 9, 978-1-93659700-0]
God, Reverential fear and love

Baba Hari Dass photo

“The only thing necessary is to understand attachment”

Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition

Everyday Peace: Letters for Life, 2000
Context: You have everything and you want more. It's natural in human beings. You don't need to give away your house, money, and car, and leave your family to find God. The only thing necessary is to understand attachment. (p.17)

Related topics