Optimism (1903)
Context: The highest result of education is tolerance. Long ago men fought and died for their faith; but it took ages to teach them the other kind of courage, — the courage to recognize the faiths of their brethren and their rights of conscience. Tolerance is the first principle of community; it is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think.
“The paradox of communism in power was that it was conservative.”
Source: The Age of Extremes (1992), p. 422.
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Eric Hobsbawm 47
British academic historian and Marxist historiographer 1917–2012Related quotes
“Conservatives have always been ready to use the power of the State.”
Source: Our Way Ahead (Conservative Political Centre, 1956), p. 10.
Source: The Romantic Generation (1995), Ch. 7 : Chopin: From the Miniature Genre to the Sublime Style
Fire as the Cure. p. 81.
Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command (1947)
“Power is required for communication.”
Source: Power and Innocence (1972), Ch. 12 : Toward New Community
Context: Power is required for communication. To stand before an indifferent or hostile group and have one's say, or to speak honestly to a friend truths that go deep and hurt — these require self-affirmation, self-assertion, and even at times aggression. … My experience in psychotherapy convinces me that the act which requires the most courage is the simple communication, unpropelled by rage or anger, of one's deepest thoughts to another.
1951 General Election Address (8 October 1951) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/100912
1950s
Source: Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America