Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes

The liberals of both the Democratic and Republican Parties are the instruments of Satan to destroy the former great principles of these two political parties.

I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives.

In truth, the parties of Whig [Liberal] and Tory [Conservative] are those of nature. They exist in all countries, whether called by these names, or by those of Aristocrats and Democrats, Cote Droite and Cote Gauche, Ultras and Radicals, Serviles, and Liberals.

The dilemma of modern progressive politics is that you are always fighting on two fronts: The conservatives on the right, and the conservatives on the left.

Liberals and the Democratic Party are demonic.

A moment's reflection shows that Liberalism is entirely negative. It is not a formative force, but always and only a disintegrating force.

A Whig [Liberal] may be a fool, a Tory [Conservative] must be so.

You know that no son of mine could be a goddamn liberal.

I do not believe that our place is at the comfortable mid-point between the extremes of left and right.

Conservatives read books and liberals don’t.

A liberal is a conservative who's been indicted.

In this country there are two parties: the righteous and the fallacious

I don’t think America really has a left wing. The American left wing would fit very comfortably in the center or center right of most European political spectrums.

Men have differed in opinion and been divided into parties by these opinions from the first origin of societies, and in all governments where they have been permitted freely to think and to speak. The same political parties which now agitate the U.S. have existed through all time.

The division of Whig and Tory... is the most salutary of all divisions and ought, therefore, to be fostered instead of being amalgamated; for take away this, and some more dangerous principle of division will take its place.

Conservatives are always looking for converts, whereas liberals are always looking for heretics.

What if you are a conservative in a liberal environment? Then what you are conserving is liberalism.

There's no such thing as a moderate. A moderate is just a liberal disguise, and they are doing everything they can to derail the conservative agenda

The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out, the conservative adopts them.

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.

Today, the culture wars and the constant skirmishes over the size and scope of the welfare state have convinced conservatives that the country’s direst enemies are not “subversive” foreigners, but homegrown liberals.

This difference between the two parties covers a wide range, and is indicative of the conservative thought of the one and the progressive thought of the other.

I think a lot of things have become associated with the Right. For example, an unapologetic commitment to progress and modernity is now almost always associated with neo-conservatism whereas it traditionally used to be associated with left-wing thinking and moving society forward.

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.

What is considered 'conservative' and what is considered 'liberal' changes in any given era.