Quotes from William Beveridge

The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of common man.

A cockle-fish may as soon crowd the ocean into its narrow shell, as vain man ever comprehend the decrees of God!

Scratch a pessimist and you will often find a defender of privilege.

Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens.

Full employment does not mean literally no unemployment; that is to say, it does not mean that every man and woman in the country who is fit and free for work is employed productively every day of his or her working life ... Full employment means that unemployment is reduced to short intervals of standing by, with the certainty that very soon one will be wanted in one's old job again or will be wanted in a new job that is within one's powers.

Liberals are not all going to say exactly the same at all times; I hope they never will, because they would cease to be Liberals.

Organisation of social insurance should be treated as one part only of a comprehensive policy of social progress. Social insurance fully developed may provide income security; it is an attack upon Want. But Want is one only of five giants on the road of reconstruction and in some ways the easiest to attack. The others are Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.

The essence of civilization is that men should come to be led more by hope and ambition and example and less by fear.

The State in organising security should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.

I have spent most of my life most happily in making plans for others to carry out.

It is, of course, quite impossible to make forecasts about the future except on the hypothetical postulate that in all matters where the nature of changes cannot be definitely foreseen and taken into account, the future is assumed to be a continuance of the past.

The state is or can be master of money, but in a free society it is master of very little else.

In practice the word democracy is seldom used rationally. It has become for most politicians a term of endearment for the institutions they prefer or of praise for any measures that they desire.

The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of the common man.

Scratch a pessimist and you find often a defender of privilege.

The trouble in modern democracy is that men do not approach to leadership 'til they have lost the desire to lead anyone.

A revolutionary moment in the world's history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.

Any proposals for the future, while they should use to the full the experience gathered in the past, should not be restricted by consideration of sectional interests established in the obtaining of that experience.

The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of common man.

Let us proportion our alms to our ability, lest we provoke God to proportion His blessings to our alms.

Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens.

The human mind likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein and resists it with a similar energy.

The state is or can be master of money, but in a free society it is master of very little else.

Scratch a pessimist and you find often a defender of privilege.