29 Quotes by Bergen Evans

For the most part our leaders are merely following out in front; they do but marshal us the way that we are going.

Euphemisms persist because lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt.

We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.

Wisdom is meaningless until your own experience has given it meaning, and there is wisdom in the selection of wisdom.

The civilized man has a moral obligation to be skeptical. . . . Any man who for one moment abandons or suspends the questioning spirit has for that moment betrayed humanity.

Speech is highly elliptical. It would scarcely be endurable otherwise. Ellipsis is indispensable to the writer or speaker who wants to be brief and pithy, but it can easily cause confusion and obscurity and must be used with skill.

Legislators who are of even average intelligence stand out among their colleagues. . . . A cultured college president has become as much a rarity as a literate newspaper publisher. A financier interested in economics is as exceptional as a labor leader interested in the labor movement. For the most part our leaders are merely following out in front; they [only] marshal us in the way that we are going.