Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Hayes argues that every era has specific dangers and ours is greed and snobbery. He condemns the moral tone of his time.
In plain terms
Every generation has problems, but ours is bad behavior and greed.
What can you take from it?
Greed and arrogance define this era.

Where it applies

  • public speaking
  • moral critique
  • cultural observation

Putting it to work

  • resist greed
  • avoid snobbery
  • critique society

Questions to consider

  • What defines your age?
  • What temptations exist now?

Another view

It offers no solution, only judgment.

More from Rutherford B. Hayes

  1. I hope you will be benefitted by your churchgoing. Where the habit does not Christianize, it generally civilizes. That is reason enough for supporting churches…

    Permalink to quote #34
  2. My speaking is irregular. Sometimes quite good, sometimes not, but generally will do... I am too far along in experience and years both for this business. I do…

    Permalink to quote #36
  3. My only objection to the arrangements there is the two-in-a-bed system. It is bad.... But let your words and conduct be perfectly pure - such as your mother mi…

    Permalink to quote #33

Related quotes

  1. Isn't Hollywood a dump-in the human sense of the word. A hideous town, pointed up by the insulting gardens of its rich, full of the human spirit at a new low o…

    F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott Fitzgerald quote #13
  2. After all we did for Britain, selling that corduroy and making it swing, all we got was a bit of tin on a piece of leather.

    George HarrisonGeorge Harrison quote #51
  3. It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sa…

    Rick SantorumRick Santorum quote #1