"A man can do his best only by confidently seeking (and perpetually missing) an unattainable perfection."
"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."
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Source: The Citizen Decides: A Guide to Responsible Thinking in Time of Crisis.
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More quotes by Ralph Barton Perry
"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.""
"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."
"I prefer credulity to skepticism and cynicism for there is more promise in almost anything than in nothing at all."
"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."
"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."