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Progressives find it hard to imagine that there are others who in good faith don’t want the better world they’re offering and will fiercely resist it.

— George Packer Witnessing the Obama Presidency, from Start to Finish (2018)

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Faith

More quotes by George Packer

After Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, the burden of proof is on anyone who would make the case for military action as a force for good.

Witnessing the Obama Presidency, from Start to Finish (2018)

"Trump’s lies will linger for years, poisoning the atmosphere like radioactive dust."

A Political Obituary for Donald Trump (2020)

"America under Trump became less free, less equal, more divided, more alone, deeper in debt, swampier, dirtier, meaner, sicker, and deader."

A Political Obituary for Donald Trump (2020)

It’s hard to build a narrative around actions not taken, disasters possibly averted, hard realities accommodated. The story of what didn’t happen isn’t an easy one to tell.

Witnessing the Obama Presidency, from Start to Finish (2018)

Few people are capable of conscious, persistent self-betrayal. A change that begins in opportunism can become more passionate than a lifelong belief, especially when it’s rewarded. Ventriloquize long enough and your voice alters; the mask becomes your face.

All George Packer quotes →

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Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr (1787)

I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Attribution

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