William Livingston Quotes

… the politically engaged will tend also to be the most closed-minded.

Just pick a political story at random and read the comments. There is no logic or reason on either side - only hypocrisy and hate.

Ignorance makes most men go into a political party, and shame keeps them from getting out of it.

No sophism is too gross to delude minds distempered by party spirit.

Sometimes party loyalty asks too much.

Politicians are trapped in their own views.

The fact is that Democrats cannot stand dissent.

All ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual word, which has so unfortunately divided man.

It is with much reluctance that I am obliged to look upon him as a man whose mind is warped by prejudice and so blinded by ignorance as to be unfit for the office he holds. However wise and scientific as philosopher, as a politician he is a child and a dupe of party.

… a cult

A Man … is not half so intent upon reforming the Abuses of his own Party, as discerning the Errors of his Enemies. To view the Virtues of the Side he espouses, he uses the magnifying End of the Perspective; but inverts the Tube, when he surveys those of his Adversaries

It is almost impossible to convince people who are under the influence of ideological bigotry that whose whom they regard as belonging to the enemy species are human.

Many in my party [Republican Party] are more interested in finding heretics than they are in finding converts

We are so ready to find evidence agaist our political opponents that it snuffs out our charity and possible doubt.

Logic, fact, morality, legality, ideology: All of it is irrelevant in understanding the Party of Trump. Republicans have made crystal clear that nothing matters to them other than partisanship.

It's a law of our natures, especially when the political fit is on us, to applaud where we already approve, and deride where we don't.

The dangerous thing about hate is that it seems so reasonable.

Curiously, many Democrats have acceded to Clintonism not because of their cold practicality and political professionalism, but because the Clintons are the sworn enemy of the right. The Clintons, in other words, while hardly being left, have been defined as the opposite of being right - the enemy of my enemy being my friend.

When people silo themselves by belief, only affiliating with like-minded media organizations and people, we lose the opportunity for genuine conversation, much less persuasion.

What people think is their individual nature is just a bundle of thoughts, emotions, ideas, opinions, and prejudices. The world can do without this individuality.

Politicians are elected to do what is right, but too many are just doing what is right for the party.

I really don't want to offend anybody, but I find all forms of religious fundamentalism frightening.

Liberals love to screech about 'free speech,' but it's pretty clear to most of us that they don't really tolerate any speech but theirs.

The party where humorless thought police work to enforce a rigid ideological discipline isn't made up of Democrats. It comprises Republicans.

The extremists are talking too loudly, and everyone is convinced that only he is on the right side.