Top 12 Quotes by Ralph Barton Perry

A man can do his best only by confidently seeking (and perpetually missing) an unattainable perfection.

A man can do his best only by confidently seeking (and perpetually missing) an unattainable perfection.

Science, Men, Perfection

Ralph Barton Perry (1964). “Puritanism and Democracy”

Ignorance deprives people of freedom because they do not know what alternatives there are. It is impossible to choose to do what one has never "heard of."

Ralph Barton Perry

Ignorance, People, Alternatives

Ralph Barton Perry (1951). “The Citizen Decides: A Guide to Responsible Thinking in Time of Crisis”

If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, it is not merely because evil deeds may be performed in the name of patriotism, but because patriotic fervor can obliterate moral distinctions altogether.

Ralph Barton Perry

Patriotic, Names, Evil

Ralph Barton Perry (1951). “The Citizen Decides: A Guide to Responsible Thinking in Time of Crisis”

As a reformer the liberal is dissatisfied with things as they are because they violate his exceptionally tender conscience.... Liberalism does not advocate change for its own sake, but for the sake of something better in the direction of what he regards as good, namely, the maximum of liberty consistent with a regard for all men and all interests -- the general happiness based on peace and justice.

Ralph Barton Perry

Men, Justice, Liberty

Voting is the least arduous of a citizen's duties. He has the prior and harder duty of making up his mind.

Ralph Barton Perry

Voting, Mind, Citizens

Ralph Barton Perry (1951). “The Citizen Decides: A Guide to Responsible Thinking in Time of Crisis”

I prefer credulity to skepticism and cynicism for there is more promise in almost anything than in nothing at all.

Ralph Barton Perry

Promise, Cynicism, Skepticism

Humanitarianism needs no apology, even when its objects are Russians or Communists. Unless we recover that concern and feel it toward all men without exception, including those who are on the other side in every fratricidal dispute, we shall have lost the chief redeeming force in human history.

Ralph Barton Perry

Apology, Men, Needs

"The Citizen Decides: A Guide to Responsible Thinking in Time of Crisis".

Indeed I am inclined to go so far as to say that the one cause for which one may properly make war is the cause of peace.

Ralph Barton Perry

War, May, Causes

Charles Chatfield, Bertrand Russell, Ralph Barton Perry (1972). “ETHICS OF WAR”, Dissertations-G

This insistence on "having his say upon the universe" is the profoundest motive of William James thinking as well as of his filial gratitude.

Ralph Barton Perry

Gratitude, Thinking, Motive

"The Thought and Character of William James, Volume 1". Book by Ralph Barton Perry, 1935.

What is needed in the present plight of mankind is not more science but a change of heart that shall move mankind to devote to constructive and peaceful purposes.

Ralph Barton Perry

Moving, Heart, Science

The fundamental idea of modern capitalism is not the right of the individual to possess and enjoy what he has earned, but the ;thesis that the exercise of this right redounds to the general good.

Ralph Barton Perry

Exercise, Ideas, Fundamentals

Ralph Barton Perry (1964). “Puritanism and Democracy”

The English mind is intelligent rather than intellectual. The French are intellectual in the sense that the intellect is emancipated and left free to run its own course.

Ralph Barton Perry

Running, Intelligent, Intellectual

Ralph Barton Perry (1918). “The Present Conflict of Ideals: A Study of the Philosophical Background of the World War”