Henry Steele Commager Quotes

Henry Steele Commager provides sharp, reflective commentary on democracy, thought and society.

24 quotes

1. American historian and teacher--born Oct. 25, 1902, Pittsburgh, Pa. Died March 2, 1998, Amherst, Mass.,

2. 'Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism, and find criticism subversive.'

3. 'If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent.'

4. 'Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them.'

5. 'Censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.'

6. 'The greatest danger we face is not any particular kind of thought. The greatest danger we face is absence of thought.'

7. 'The Bill of Rights was not written to protect governments from trouble. It was written precisely to give the people the constitutional means to cause trouble for governments they no longer trusted.'

8. Henry S. Commager said that the US Constitution was the best chance for political freedom, calling it a 'perfect blueprint.'

9. It's awfully hard to be the son of a great man and also of a half-crazy woman.

10. Its awfully hard to be the son of a great man and also of a half-crazy woman.

11. America was born of revolt, flourished in dissent, became great through experimentation.

12. The American people...have a stake in non-conformity. For they know that the American genius is non-conformist.

13. We should not forget that our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past ... while we silence the rebels of the present.

14. The justification and the purpose of freedom of speech is not to indulge those who want to speak their minds. It is to prevent error and discover truth. There may be other ways of detecting error and discovering truth than that of free discussion, but so far we have not found them.

15. The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.

16. A free society cherishes nonconformity. It knows from the non-conformist, from the eccentric, have come many of the great ideas.

17. History is organized memory, and the organization is all important!

18. It seems fair to say that while the moral standards of the nineteenth century persisted almost unchanged into the twentieth, moral practices changed sharply, and that though the standards of the nineteenth century persisted the institutions that had sustained them and the sanctions that had enforced them lost influence and authority.

19. In the long run [censorship] will create a generation incapable of appreciating the difference between independence of thought and subservience.

20. History, we can confidently assert, is useful in the sense that art and music, poetry and flowers, religion and philosophy are useful. Without it - as with these - life would be poorer and meaner; without it we should be denied some of those intellectual and moral experiences which give meaning and richness to life. Surely it is no accident that the study of history has been the solace of many of the noblest minds of every generation.

21. Whether history will judge this war to be different or not we cannot say. But this we can say with certainty: A government and a society that silences those who dissent is one that has lost its way.

22. We cannot have a society half slave and half free; nor can we have thought half slave and half free. If we create an atmosphere in which men fear to think independently, inquire fearlessly, express themselves freely, we will in the end create the kind of society in which men no longer care to think independently or to inquire fearlessly.

23. History is a jangle of accidents, blunders, surprises and absurdities, and so is our knowledge of it, but if we are to report it at all we must impose some order upon it.

24. Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them.