A Quote by James Russell Lowell

A ginooine statesman should be on his guard, if he must hev beliefs, not to b'lieve 'em too hard.

James Russell Lowell

Quote Topics

Beliefs Guard Hard His Must Should Statesman Too

Quote Author

James Russell Lowell
American - Poet
February 22, 1819 - August 12, 1891

All of us should be on guard against beliefs that flatter ourselves. At the very least, we should check such beliefs against facts.

Thomas Sowell

And when statesman or others worry [the scientist] too much, then he should leave with his possessions.

Tycho Brahe

While hitting one must guard ... In order to hit with effect, the enemy must be taken off his guard.

B. H. Liddell Hart

Laborin' man an' laborin' woman Hev one glory an' one shame; Ev'y thin' thet' s done inhuman Injers all on 'em the same.

James Russell Lowell

The legislator must be in advance of his age. Across the mind of the statesman flash ever and anon the brilliant, though partial, intimations of future events.... Something which is more than fore-sight and less than prophetic knowledge marks the statesman a peculiar being among his contemporaries.

Woodrow Wilson

Conservatism is sometimes a symptom of sterility. Those who have nothing in them that can grow and develop must cling to what they have in beliefs, ideas and possessions. The sterile radical, too, is basically conservative. He is afraid to let go of the ideas and beliefs he picked up in his youth lest his life be seen as empty and wasted.

Eric Hoffer

That is Gladstone, the greatest statesman that ever lived. I intend to be a statesman, too.

Woodrow Wilson

The villager, born humbly and bred hard, Content his wealth, and poverty his guard, In action simply just, in conscience clear, By guilt untainted, undisturb'd by fear, His means but scanty, and his wants but few, Labor his business, and his pleasure too, Enjoys more comforts in a single hour Than ages give the wretch condemn'd to power.

Charles Churchill

The Judo pupil, therefore, must cultivate his mind; he must never feel fear, never lose his temper, never be off his guard; but he must be cool and calm, though not absent-minded; he must act as quick as thought, according to circumstances. He must also be dexterous as well as bold both in attack and in defense.

Yokoyama Sakujiro

[T]he essence of belief is doubt, the essence of reality is questioning. The essence of Time is Flow, not Fix. The essence of faith is the knowledge that all flows and that everything must change. The growing man is Man Alive, and his "philosophy" must grow, must flow, with him. . . . the man too fixed today, unfixed tomorrow - and his body of beliefs is nothing but a series of fixations.

Thomas Wolfe

Statesman create; ordinary leaders consume. The ordinary leader is satisfied with ameliorating the environment, not transforming it; a statesman must be a visionary and an educator.

Henry A. Kissinger

The heart of a statesman should be in his head.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind; Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote. Who too deep for his hearers still went on refining, And thought of convincing while they thought of dining: Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit.

Oliver Goldsmith

A politician thinks of the next election; a statement of the next generation. A politician looks for the success of his party; a statesman for that of his country. The statesman wishes to steer, while the politician is satisfied to drift.

James Freeman Clarke

Nelson Mandela is, for me, the single statesman in the world. The single statesman, in that literal sense, who is not solving all his problems with guns. It's truly unbelievable.