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Whoever in his public services is handcuffed and shackled by the vice of consistency will be a man not free to act as various questions come before him from time to time; he will be a statesman locked in a prison house, keys to which are in the keeping of days and events that are dead. Let me quote Emerson: 'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen.'

— Henry Fountain Ashurst

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More quotes by Henry Fountain Ashurst

There has never been superadded to these vices of mine the withering, embalming vice of consistency.

A speech is entertaining only when serenely detached from all information.

No man is fit to be a Senator... unless he is willing to surrender his political life for great principle.

It is still an open question as to whether mankind or insects shall ultimately inherit the earth. It is my opinion that mankind … has about a 50-50 chance....

Poker teaches self-reliance, self-control, self-respect, self-denial, and independence. But when cards are wild or are given fictitious authority, the noble game is robbed of its romance, grace and stimulation and degenerates into a gambling scheme.

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