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The divine spark leaps from the finger of God to the finger of Adam, whether it takes ultimate shape in a law of physics or a law of the land, a poem or a policy, a sonata or a mechanical computer.

— Alfred Whitney Griswold

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More quotes by Alfred Whitney Griswold

Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club? Could the New Testament have been composed as a conference report?

Liberal learning is both a safeguard against false ideas of freedom and a source of true ones.

Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased.

In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.

There are certain things in a man that have to be won, not forced; inspired, not compelled. Among these are many, I should say most, of the things that constitute the good life. All are essential to democracy. All are proof against its enemies.

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Attribution

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