The intellectual … may live for ideas, as I have said, but … - Richard Hofstadter

" "
The intellectual … may live for ideas, as I have said, but something must prevent him from living for one idea, from becoming obsessive or grotesque. Although there have been zealots whom we may still regard as intellectuals, zealotry is a defect of the breed and not of the essence.

Richard Hofstadter

Sources available for members. Sign up free to see where this quote comes from

English

Collect this quote

About Richard Hofstadter

Richard Hofstadter (August 6, 1916 – August 24, 1970) was an American historian, Professor of American History at Columbia University and public intellectual of the mid-20th century. He became the "iconic historian of postwar liberal consensus", largely due to his emphasis on ideas and political culture rather than the day-to-day actions of politicians.

Biography information from Wikiquote

All quotes from Richard Hofstadter Similar Quotes by other Originators

Originators like Richard Hofstadter:

Richard M. Weaver William F. Buckley Jr. H. L. Mencken Mary McCarthy Christopher Hitchens

Additional quotes by Richard Hofstadter

There has always been in our national experience a type of mind which elevates hatred to a kind of creed; for this mind, group hatreds take a place in politics similar to the class struggle in some other modern societies.

Anti-Catholicism has always been the pornography of the Puritan.

Intellect needs to be understood not as some kind of claim against the other human excellences for which a fatally high price has to be paid, but rather as a complement to them without which they cannot be fully consummated.

The intellectual … may live for ideas, as I have said, but something must prevent him from living for one idea, from becoming obsessive or grotesque.… - Richard Hofstadter

About Richard Hofstadter

Limited Time Offer

Additional quotes by Richard Hofstadter

Enhance Your Quote Experience