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Democratic civilization is the first in history to blame itself because another power is working to destroy it.

— Jean-François Revel How Democracies Perish (1983)

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More quotes by Jean-François Revel

Clearly, a civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself.

Strangely, it is always America that is described as degenerate and 'fascist', while it is solely in Europe that actual dictatorships and totalitarian regimes spring up.

Europe's Anti-American Obsession (2003)

The strange thing is that it's always in Europe that dictatorships and totalitarian regimes spring up, yet it's always America that is "fascist".

Anti-Americanism (2003)

Anti-Americanism thus defined is less a popular prejudice than a parti pris of the political, cultural and religious elites.

Anti-Americanism (2003)

In Europe, anti-Americanism is much more a hobgoblin of the political, cultural, and religious elites.

Europe's Anti-American Obsession (2003)

All Jean-François Revel quotes →

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A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love (1973)

History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

James Joyce Ulysses (1922)

If we don’t care about our past we can’t have very much hope for our future.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past, — so good night!

Thomas Jefferson

Attribution

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