I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Stupid people are generally Conservative, regardless of whether Conservatives are generally stupid.
- In plain terms
- Stupid people are usually Conservative.
- What can you take from it?
- Conservatism attracts less intelligent people.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does ideology correlate with intelligence?
- What makes a person conservative?
Another view
It is a contentious generalization about political intelligence.
More from John Stuart Mill
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is…
Permalink to quote #4 The tendency has always been strong to believe that whatever received a name must be an entity or thing, having an independent existence of its own; and if no …
Permalink to quote #6 Since the state must necessarily provide subsistence for the criminal poor while undergoing punishment, not to do the same for the poor who have not offended i…
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
Revolutionaries themselves are the last people to realize when, through force of time and circumstance, they have gradually become conservatives. It is scarcel…
Constant LambertConstant Lambert quote #2 When a nation's young men are conservative, its funeral bell is already rung.
Henry Ward BeecherHenry Ward Beecher quote #7 Headmaster: They were all socialists. Why is it always the intelligent people who are socialists?
Alan BennettAlan Bennett quote #7