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Looking back we can see how indirectly we know the environment in which nevertheless we live. We can see that the news of it comes to us now fast, now slowly; but that whatever we believe to be a true picture, we treat as if it were the environment itself.

— Walter Lippmann Public Opinion (1922)

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More quotes by Walter Lippmann

You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steam-roller will not plant flowers.

A Preface to Politics (1913)

Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.

The Stakes of Diplomacy (1915)

In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.

The Good Society (1937)

The self-evident truth which makes men invincible is that inalienably they are inviolate persons.

The Good Society (1937)

It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.

A Preface to Morals (1929)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Walter Lippmann (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.