Irving Babbitt

“A person who has sympathy for mankind in the lump, faith in its future progress, and desire to serve the great cause of this progress, should be called not a humanist, but a humanitarian, and his creed may be defined as humanitarianism.”

“Democracy is measured not by its leaders doing extraordinary things, but by its citizens doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

“What is important is not to be righteous in the eyes of others, but to be righteous in one's own eyes.”

“Instead of the 'will to power,' you may say that the true Nietzschean is characterized by the 'will to illusion.'”

“A man's insight is measured by his reverence.”

“To be modern is not to fly in the face of tradition, but to process it.”

“Genuine work alone, in whatever field, can give the modern man the peace that the monk once found in religious contemplation.”

“Art is a disciplined skill of the inner life, and the creating of a masterpiece is a triumph of the will.”