352 Quotes by Roger Scruton

Under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, it is an offence to stir up hatred towards religious and racial groups. 'Stirring up hatred' is an expression both loaded and undefined. Do I stir up hatred towards a religious group by criticising its beliefs in outspoken terms?

Each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing.

We should make the case for the things we love, even if we think that people will misunderstand them. That is why people defend the U.S. Constitution, even though so few really understand the subtle thinking embodied in that document.

My life divides into three parts. In the first I was wretched; in the second ill at ease; in the third hunting.

If, as many people believe, there is a God, and that God made us in his own image, then of course we are distinct from nature, just as He is.

The Scottish desire for independence is, to some extent, a fabrication. They want to identify themselves as Scots but still to be part of a, to enjoy the subsidy they get from being part of the kingdom.

The main aim of conservative politicians is to get through to the next election without being noticed. Nothing is more embarrassing to them than a person who claims not only to share their beliefs but also to be inclined to put them into practice.

What makes a politician accountable is not that there are millions of people who vote, but that there are procedures of government that force him to account for himself.

The sanctity of private property is so fundamental a part of the American settlement that the country's conservatives look with suspicion on any policy that seems to prevent people from doing what they will with what is theirs.