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The trouble with traditional American conservatism is that it lacks a naturally cheerful, optimistic disposition. Not only does it lack one, it regards signs of one as evidence of unsoundness, irresponsibility.

— Irving Kristol

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More quotes by Irving Kristol

The major political event of the twentieth century is the death of socialism.

Neo-Conservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea (1995)

An intellectual may be defined as a man who speaks with general authority about a subject on which he has no particular competence.

If you care for the quality of life in our American democracy, then you have to be for censorship.

What rules the world is idea, because ideas define the way reality is perceived.

I have observed over the years that the unanticipated consequences of social action are always more important, and usually less agreeable, than the intended consequences.

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Attribution

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