Harold Rosenberg Quotes

I don't like overt traditionalism.

The Kochs, like many other hard-right conservatives, redefine "socialism" as almost any form of government which taxes citizens and regulates businesses.

Liberal institutions soon cease from being liberal the moment they are soundly established.

When a nation's young men are conservative, its funeral bell has already rung.

The American people will always be progressive as well as conservative.

The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made.

The democrat is a young conservative; the conservative is an old democrat. The aristocrat is the democrat ripe and gone to seed.

Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people... it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

Art is not a mirror to reflect the world, but a hammer with which to shape it

All political action aims at either preservation or change.

America is a conservative country with a small “c” - they want change, but they don’t want too much change too fast.

A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted — in the air. A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. A reactionary is a somnambulist walking backwards. A liberal is a man who uses his legs and his hands at the behest — at the command — of his head.

Art, it is said, is not a mirror, but a hammer: it does not reflect, it shapes.

I like to discuss things. I am open: I like to discuss with liberals better than I do with conservatives.

Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the world.

You can positively affect and change a social circumstance with art, and it’s vital that a change happens now.

Art moves. Hence its civilizing power.

I believe in the power of great art to transcend geographical boundaries, political differences and even the restrictions of time.

Only conservatives believe that subversion is still being carried on in the arts and that society is being shaken by it. Advanced art today is no longer a cause -it contains no moral imperative. There is no virtue in clinging to principles and standards, no vice in selling or in selling out.

The arts can bring the heart to the aid of the head, the personal to the political.

The more that happens that makes sure liberals and liberalism remain a minority, the better off the world is gonna be and the better off this country is gonna be.

There was no special event that made me decide. I had collected some photos and the idea was in the back of my mind for a long time. It was growing and growing, so finally I said, 'I must paint this.' I come from East Germany and am not a Marxist, so of course at the time I had no sympathy for the ideas, or for the ideology that these people represented. I couldn't understand, but I was still impressed. Like everyone, I was touched. It was an exceptional moment for Germany.

Everyone is a liberal until they have something to conserve. Then they become a conservative.

Most conservatives also believe in the death penalty, but not abortion, which proves they like to procrastinate.