Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse Quotes

The foundation of liberty is the idea of growth.

The first condition of universal freedom, that is to say, is a measure of universal restraint. Without such restraint some men may be free but others will be unfree.

In modern industry there is very little that the individual can do by his unaided efforts.

To be effective men must act together, and to act together they must have a common understanding and a common object.

To move towards harmony is the persistent impulse of the rational being, even if the goal lies always beyond the reach of accomplished effort.

Does scope for individual development, for example, consort with idea of equality?

True consent is free consent, and full freedom of consent implies equality on the part of both parties to bargain.

There is no line drawn beyond which human obligations cease. There is no gulf across which the voice of human suffering cannot be heard, beyond which massacre and torture cease to be execrable. Simply as a patriot, again, a man should recognize that a nation may become great not merely by painting the map red, or extending her commerce beyond all precedent, but also as the champion of justice, the succourer of the oppressed, the established home of freedom.

Theories of politics or of conduct that live long and retain influence have something more than theory behind them. They appeal to powerful instincts and interests, and the Hegelian philosophy is no exception. It appeals to the instincts and interests of counsellors and kings, of privileged classes, of Property and Order. ... It appeals to the slavishness which accepts a master if he will give the slave a share of tyranny over others more deeply enslaved. It satisfies national egotism and class ascendancy.

The best and the worst things that men do they do in the name of a religion. Some have supposed that only supernatural religion could mislead. The history of our own time shows that if men no longer believe in God they will make themselves gods of Power, of Evolution, of the Race, the Nation, or the State. In the name of such gods will they drench a continent with blood, and the youth will offer themselves up as willing martyrs.

Both logically and historically the first point of attack is arbitrary government, and the first liberty to be secured is the right to be dealt with in accordance with law. A man who has no legal rights against another, but stands entirely at his disposal, to be treated according to his caprice, is a slave to that other.

Excess of liberty contradicts itself. In short, there is no such thing; there is only liberty for one and restraint for another. If liberty then be regarded as a social ideal, the problem of establishing liberty must be a problem of organizing restraints; and thus the conception of a liberty which is to set an entire people free from its government appears to be a self-contradictory ideal.

The Liberal does not meet opinions which he conceives to be false with toleration, as though they did not matter. He meets them with justice, and exacts for them a fair hearing as though they mattered just as much as his own.

Thirteen months ago, Mr. , who had surprised the world by joining Mr. 's , surprised it still further by coming forward with a proposal which would have rendered the work of the Tariff Commission superfluous. The object of the Commission was to draw up a scientific tariff, the essence of which was to be a nicely graduated scale of import duties adapted to the needs of British industry, as conceived by Mr. Chamberlain and his followers. Such a scheme, whatever its merits or demerits, must necessarily be complex in the last degree.

Other great sources of wealth are found in financial and speculative operations, often of distinctly anti-social tendency and possible only through the defective organization of our economy.