Quotes from Gertrude Himmelfarb

Nothing is as seductive as the assurance of success.

Postmodernism entices us with the siren call of liberation and creativity, but it may be an invitation to intellectual and moral suicide.

The real movement of history, it turns out, is fueled not by matter but by spirit, by the will to freedom.

The separation of church and state, however interpreted, did not signify the separation of church and society.

To look upon religion as the ultimate source of morality, and hence of a good society and a sound policy, is not demeaning to religion. On the contrary, it pays religion—and God—the great tribute of being essential to the welfare of mankind. And it does credit to man as well, who is deemed capable of subordinating his lower nature to his higher, of venerating and giving obeisance to something above himself.

Stigmas as the corollaries of values. If work, independence, responsibility, respectability are valued, then their converse must be devalued, seen as disreputable.

Whatever institutions or forms of government have been devised through the ages, the idea of liberty has remained constant: the right of each man to consult his conscience without reference to authorities or majorities, custom or opinion.

absolute liberty ... tends to corrupt absolutely.