“We all know that the besetting danger of Churches is formalism; the besetting danger of State action, of corporate action, is officialism and mechanism; and we all know that it is a drawback to many modern ideals that they rest upon materialism and a soulless secularism.”

Speech opening the Passmore Edwards Settlement (12 February 1898), quoted in 'Mr. Morley On Social Settlements', The Times (14 February 1898), p. 12.

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 "We all know that the besetting danger of Churches is formalism; the besetting danger of State action, of corporate acti…" by John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn?
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn photo
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn 37
British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor 1838–1923

Related quotes

Bono photo

“I know idealism is not playing on the radio right now, you don't see it on TV, irony is on heavy rotation, the knowingness, the smirk, the tired joke. I've tried them all out but I'll tell you this, outside this campus — and even inside it — idealism is under siege beset by materialism, narcissism and all the other isms of indifference.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

PENN Address (2004)
Context: I know idealism is not playing on the radio right now, you don't see it on TV, irony is on heavy rotation, the knowingness, the smirk, the tired joke. I've tried them all out but I'll tell you this, outside this campus — and even inside it — idealism is under siege beset by materialism, narcissism and all the other isms of indifference. Baggism, Shaggism. Raggism. Notism, graduationism, chismism, I don't know. Where's John Lennon when you need him?

John Stuart Mill photo
Ayrton Senna photo
Charles Stross photo

“One of the great besetting problems of the modern age is what to do with too much information.”

Source: The Laundry Files, The Rhesus Chart (2014), Chapter 2, “Meet the Scrum” (p. 35)

Cesare Pavese photo

“The man of action is not the headstrong fool who rushes into danger with no thought for himself, but the man who puts into practice the things he knows.”

Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator

This Business of Living (1935-1950)

Lars Løkke Rasmussen photo

“Global Warming knows no border. It does not discriminate. It affects us all. And we are here today, because we are all committed to take action.”

Lars Løkke Rasmussen (1964) Danish politician

From his opening address at United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen December 7, 2009.
2000s, 2009

Sandra Fluke photo
Friedrich Hayek photo

“Since the value of freedom rests on the opportunities it provides for unforeseen and unpredictable actions, we will rarely know what we lose through a particular restriction of freedom.”

Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) Austrian and British economist and Nobel Prize for Economics laureate

“Principles or Expediency?” Toward Liberty: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday (29 September 1971)
1960s–1970s

Related topics