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Carl Van Doren Quotes

1885–1950 United States

Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was a U.S. critic, historian, and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer.

United States
Critics

Random Carl Van Doren quote

14 quotes

I perceive that the race of men, while sheep in credulity, are wolves for conformity.

Why I am Not a Believer (1926)

The race of man, while sheep in credulity, are wolves for conformity.

Building A Speech (1990)

Yes, it's hard to write. But it's harder not to.

Writing with Authors Kids Love : Writing Exercises by Authors of Children's Literature (1998)

It is obvious that no difficulty in the way of world government can match the danger of a world without it.

The Great Rehearsal (1948)

Whoever says he knows that immortality is a fact is merely hoping that it is.

Why I am Not a Believer (1926)

There is no trustworthy evidence as to a god's absolute existence.

Why I am Not a Believer (1926)

Though he knows that knowledge is imperfect, he trusts it alone. If he takes, therefore, the less delight in metaphysics, he takes the more in physics.

Why I am Not a Believer (1926)

History is now choosing the founders of the World Federation. Any person who can be among that number and fails to do so has lost the noblest opportunity of a lifetime.

A classic is a book that doesn't have to be written again.

During the years of conflict which led to the Civil War the Constitution was regarded, by one party or the other, as the rule of order or the misrule of tyranny.

The Great Rehearsal (1948)

Opinion has swung back and forth, while the Constitution itself has grown into a strong yet flexible organism, generally, if now and then slowly, responsive to the national circumstances and necessities.

The Great Rehearsal (1948)

The parallel between 1787 and 1948 is naturally not exact. Even if it were, 1787 would have no authority over 1948. Each age must make or keep its own government and determine its own future.

The Great Rehearsal (1948)

The most familiar quotations are the most likely to be misquoted. Some misquotations are still variable, some have settled down to false versions that have obscured the true ones. They have passed over from literature into speech.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1941)

Neither creator nor critic can make himself universal by barely taking thought about it. He is what he lives. The measure of the creator is the amount of life he puts Into his work. The measure of the critic is the amount of life he finds there.

The Roving Critic (1923)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Carl Van Doren (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.