“The lesson of modern history—that Religions enjoy (are endowed with) the prerogative of perpetual youth while philosophies seldom outlast a generation.”

Private notes, quoted in Herbert Butterfield, ‘Acton: His Training, Methods and Intellectual System’, in A. O. Sarkissian (ed.), Studies in Diplomatic History and Historiography in honour of G. P. Gooch, C.H. (1961), p. 195
Undated

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 "The lesson of modern history—that Religions enjoy (are endowed with) the prerogative of perpetual youth while philosoph…" by John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton?
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton photo
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton 112
British politician and historian 1834–1902

Related quotes

Stanley Baldwin photo

“Dogmatism is the prerogative of youth.”

Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Speech to the Empire Rally of Youth at the Royal Albert Hall (18 May 1937), quoted in Service of Our Lives (1937), p. 161.
1937

Ralph Waldo Emerson photo
David Hume photo

“Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.”

Part 4, Section 7
Source: A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40), Book 1: Of the understanding

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo
Anthony Burgess photo
Bram Stoker photo

“From every life there may be a lesson to some one; but in the teeming millions of humanity such lessons can but seldom have any general or exhaustive force. The mere din of strife is too incessant for any individual sound to carry far.”

Preface
Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving (1907)
Context: Logically speaking, even the life of an actor has no preface. He begins, and that is all. And such beginning is usually obscure; but faintly remembered at the best. Art is a completion; not merely a history of endeavour. It is only when completeness has been obtained that the beginnings of endeavour gain importance, and that the steps by which it has been won assume any shape of permanent interest. After all, the struggle for supremacy is so universal that the matters of hope and difficulty of one person are hardly of general interest. When the individual has won out from the huddle of strife, the means and steps of his succeeding become of interest, either historically or in the educational aspect — but not before. From every life there may be a lesson to some one; but in the teeming millions of humanity such lessons can but seldom have any general or exhaustive force. The mere din of strife is too incessant for any individual sound to carry far. Fame, who rides in higher atmosphere, can alone make her purpose heard. Well did the framers of picturesque idea understand their work when in her hand they put a symbolic trumpet.

Charles Fort photo

“I conceive of nothing, in religion, science, or philosophy, that is more than the proper thing to wear, for a while.”

Charles Fort (1874–1932) American writer

Ch. 22 http://www.resologist.net/talent22.htm; sometimes paraphrased "I can conceive of nothing, in religion, science or philosophy, that is anything more than the proper thing to wear, for a while."
Wild Talents (1932)

Glen Cook photo
Max Müller photo

Related topics