Quotes About Conservatism

Preserve the present order, or change it? At the French Assembly of 1789, the delegates who favored preservation sat on the right side of the chamber, while those who favored change sat on the left. The terms right and left have stood for conservatism and liberalism ever since.

Bill Bennett really became an idol for me. I listened to him every morning from 6 to 9 for, oh, years.

In the book I define conservatism, as I believe it is fit upon four categories of principle: respect for The Constitution, respect for life, less government, and personal responsibility.

The true rightist is not a man who wants to go back to this or that institution for the sake of a return; he wants first to find out what is eternally true, eternally valid, and then either to restore or reinstall it, regardless of whether it seems obsolete, whether it is ancient, contemporary, or even without precedent, brand new, "ultramodern." Old truths can be rediscovered, entirely new ones found. The Man of the Right does not have a time-bound, but a sovereign mind.

It is the reason that the right consistently loses the black and Hispanic vote – not because the right's policies are so abhorrent to blacks and Hispanics, but because blacks and Hispanics have been told for generations that conservatives hate them.

We were willing to stay quiet if we could have our E Pluribus Unum. But it hasn't worked. We haven't been left in peace. For every inch we've given to the left, they've sought to bully us into handing over a mile. That must end now.

Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.

Conservatism is all about surfaces and labels and presentation, and drag says no, we refuse to follow any rules about that.

I've found that in places where women have not really been afforded full rights yet - for instance, in the Middle East - even very conservative politicians in the region will say, 'You know, my daughter would really like to meet you,' or, 'Would you send a note to my granddaughter?'

Of course there are regrets. I shall regret always that I found my own authentic voice in politics. I was too conservative, too conventional. Too safe, too often. Too defensive. Too reactive. Later, too often on the back foot.

Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.

Through the years, I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have shared how much they relate to my 'Sordid Lives' family, and how many gay men and women used it to come out to their conservative families through the humor of the film.

Sometimes I get a lot of stuff, being in Houston, being in a conservative place, and wearing weird stuff that I wear. People don't get it sometimes. I like it.

Ronald Reagan is a triumph of the embalmer's art.

Orson Hamill has called the conservative sickness of the twentieth century. There

Since the 1950s, Movement Conservatives have fought the fair examination of their ideas. They embrace a worldview in which a few wealthy men control the economy and dominate society. This idea repels most Americans.

I get stopped by people on the Upper West Side of Manhattan - actors, directors, people that I revere - who are closet conservatives who feel the same way but can't speak out. And they think I am fighting for them so they can come out of the closet eventually and express themselves without worrying about losing their jobs.

Conservatives may worship Adam Smith's 'invisible hand,' but for Obama, the helping hand comes in large measure from the public, not the private sector. To call this 'socialism' is to do violence to the word and to the concept. To call it 'un-American' is a smear.

America needs a strong, rational, positive, practical conservative movement. It needs that bulwark against liberal delusion and hubris. It needs a voice that says we are imperfect, that life is complex, that government can create need even as it meets need, that you can't fix everything, and freedom is worth some danger and sorrow.

Lest conservatives be too proud, it's worth recalling that conservatism's rise was decisively enabled by liberalism's weakness.

Tony Hadley is a big Conservative. He is desperate to become a Lord. He's jealous of me.

Conservatism is not about leaving people behind. Conservatism is about empowering people to catch up, to give them the tools at their disposable that make it possible for them to access all the hope, all the promise, all the opportunity that America offers. And our programs to help them should reflect that.

Although there's a lot of focus on the Lib Dems, we need to keep our eyes on the far right of the Tories, who I suspect will become increasingly impatient in their appetite for tax cuts, deregulation and shrinking the state even further.

Right-wing in Holland is to the Left of the Tories in England.