Mary Doria Russell Quotes

Conservatism clings to what has been established, fearing that, once we begin to question the beliefs that we have inherited, all the values of life will be destroyed.

Conservatism, I believe, is mainly due to want of imagination.

The masses of the people are no lovers of changes which run counter to immemorial custom

You have to accept that traditions exist, that people don't change their minds very quickly, that people are scared.

I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.

When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.

Historically speaking, institutions are slow to change and usually resistant to any sudden moves - churches especially so.

A conservative believes nothing should be done for the first time.

Those interested in perpetuating present conditions are always in tears about the marvelous past that is about to disappear.

A conservative is a man who will not look at the new moon out of respect for that ancient institution, the old one.

Nothing is more difficult, in general, than to make a nation perceive anything as true, or seek its own interest, in any manner but as its forefathers have opined and acted.

I think some people are just very passionate that things remain the way they were when they were kids.

The appeal of the New Right is simply that it seems to promise that nothing will change in the domestic realm. People are terrified of change there, because it's the last humanizing force left in society, and they think, correctly, that it must be retained.

I think some fans want everything to stay they same because they want to stay the same.

The first resistance to social change is to say it's not necessary.

The left has come to regard common sense - the traditional wisdom and folkways of the community - as an obstacle to progress and enlightenment.

I don't like overt traditionalism.

People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old ones.

But you say you are conservative - eminently conservative - while we are revolutionary, destructive, or something of the sort. What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?

The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal. It expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values.

Tradition" is very often an excuse word for people who don't want to change.

Predominant opinions are generally the opinions of the generation that is vanishing.

Man is by nature a conservative animal and government is his instrument for preventing rapid change.

Traditional autocrats leave in place existing allocations of wealth, power, status, and other re-sources which in most traditional societies favor an affluent few and maintain masses in poverty. But they worship traditional gods and observe traditional taboos. They do not disturb the habitual rhythms of work and leisure, habitual places of residence, habitual patterns of family and personal relations.

Inertia is as powerful a force in society and politics as it is on physics, and effecting change can be demanding and discouraging.