Thorstein Veblen Quotes

Conservatism is only as good as what it conserves.

The appeal of the New Right is simply that it seems to promise that nothing will change in the domestic realm. People are terrified of change there, because it's the last humanizing force left in society, and they think, correctly, that it must be retained.

Conservatism clings to what has been established, fearing that, once we begin to question the beliefs that we have inherited, all the values of life will be destroyed.

Man is by nature a conservative animal and government is his instrument for preventing rapid change.

Inertia is as powerful a force in society and politics as it is on physics, and effecting change can be demanding and discouraging.

Conservatives want to keep things as they are, while revolutionists turn things upside down.

By definition, conservatives struggle with change.

I've always believed that conservatism is the politics of reality, and that reality ultimately asserts itself in a reasonably free society, in behalf of the conservative position.

I think some people are just very passionate that things remain the way they were when they were kids.

I'm all for prosperity. It's change I object to.

The great conservative insight is that order is really hard to achieve. It's really precious, and it's really easy to lose.

When you talk about change, you know what makes it really tough for people is on the one hand you've got tradition, and on the other hand you've got change; in many people's mind, change equals modernization. Tradition, however. I'm a big tradition guy.

I'm not a reactionary.

The conservative revival cannot be dismissed.

I do not know which makes a man more conservative - to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.

When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.

Conservatism is rooted in preservation; progressivism advances alteration. These are different love languages. These languages turn on your view of change itself: When you think of America, do you see a country struggling to be maintained or one striving to be made better?

We have to struggle against the conservatives from all sides, not only the right-wingers, but also the left-wing conservatives who don't want to change anything.

The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal. It expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values.

Those interested in perpetuating present conditions are always in tears about the marvelous past that is about to disappear.

The castle which conservatism is set to defend is the actual state of things, good and bad.

Inertia is the most powerful force in politics.

What was good enough for my father is good enough for me" is a treasured English axiom which, if strictly carried out, would have kept us to wooden ploughs and water clocks. In these days we need to be inoculated with some of the nervous energy of the Americans.

We [Republicans] don’t need any new ideas.

Conservatism, for me, is the philosophy and the politics of attachment.