Michael Novak Professions : Philosopher Born : September 9, 1933 Died : February 17, 2017 Browse All Authors Top 43 quotes by Michael Novak Love is not a feeling of happiness. Love is a willingness to sacrifice. Michael Novak sacrifice happiness love To persuade thinking persons in Eastern Europe that Central American Marxists - the Sandinistas, the guerillas in El Salvador - are in absurd and tragic error is not difficult. Poles and Czechs and Hungarians can hardly believe, after what they experienced under socialism, that other human beings would fall for the same bundle of lies, half-truths, and distortions. Sadly, however, illusion is often sweeter to human taste than reality. The last marxist in the world will probably be an American nun. Michael Novak war lying fall Our Founders always wondered about how long it would last. The price of liberty is everlasting vigilance. You've got to be on your guard every minute or you will lose it. Michael Novak liberty lasts long The most critical threat to our freedom is a failure to appreciate the power of truth. Michael Novak threat appreciate truth It is not possible in this culture today to hold up to public pillory and ridicule any group - whether blacks, American Indians, women, homosexuals, Poles, or any of a number of other groups that have been discriminated against in the past. However, the one group you can hold up to public mockery and pillory without fear of reprisal is evangelical Christians. Michael Novak religious christian past In The Federalist, James Madison called the rage for equality 'a wicked project.' People differ and rewards differ-that's the essence of both liberty and justice. No nation that rewards effort, talent, inventiveness and luck can even pretend to cherish equal outcomes. In an inventive and dynamic society, equal (even relatively equal) incomes can be achieved only by abandoning liberty for tyranny. Michael Novak essence justice people Marriage, the family unit, was the "original Department of Health, Education and Welfare." Michael Novak health-education welfare marriage To go into a competition and not strive to win is to be a dishonest competitor. Michael Novak competition winning sports Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the most noble possibilities of the human race. This attainment is made possible through passionate concern for choice, in an atmosphere of social trust. Michael Novak diversity race civilization No great, inspiring culture of the future can be built upon the moral principle of relativism. For at its bottom such a culture holds that nothing is better than anything else, and that all things are in themselves equally meaningless. Except for the fragments of faith (in progress, in compassion, in conscience, in hope) to which it still clings, illegitimately, such a culture teaches every one of its children that life is a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing. Michael Novak progress compassion children You're a sovereign as a citizen. If you're not involved in your government, you're not doing your job. In the long run that's very bad for the Republic. Michael Novak government running jobs Our capacity for self-deception has no known limits Michael Novak deception limits self To know oneself is to disbelieve utopia. Michael Novak knowing-oneself utopia oneself Don't be afraid of anything. We've seen so much suffering and evil in the 20th century and we got through it. We can go on. God is with us. God will help us. Trust Him. Michael Novak suffering evil goes-on There is an alternative to terror. It is called, in the political order, democracy. In the economic order, it is called the dynamic enterprise economy. (...) It empowers poor people from the bottom up. (...) A dynamic economic sector is the poor's best hope of escaping the prison of poverty. It is the only system so far known to human beings to take poor people and make them, quite soon, middle class, and some of them even (horrors!) rich. Michael Novak escaping class order Tradition lives because young people come along who catch its romance and add new glories to it. Michael Novak romance add people Our political institutions work remarkably well. They are designed to clang against each other. The noise is democracy at work. Michael Novak political government work Granted that I must die, how shall I live? Michael Novak granted dies purpose We really feel happier when things look bleak. Hope is endurance. Hope is holding on and going on and trusting in the Lord. Michael Novak holding-on endurance looks Atheists in our midst are proof that all consciences can be accommodated here, even those that have no ground for holding that conscience is sacred, inalienable, and prior to civil society. Michael Novak sacred atheism atheist Similar Authors F. H. Bradley philosopher Irving Copi philosopher Ivan Ilyin philosopher Ivan Illich philosopher Bion of Borysthenes philosopher Bonaventure philosopher All Authors
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