Quote#Hope
Our elders are always optimistic in their views of the present,…
Quote byRandolph Bourne · 1886–1918
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: II, Page 438. Quote republished in "Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty," Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought 1, no. 1 (Spring, 1965), p. 22..
English (original)
Our elders are always optimistic in their views of the present, pessimistic in their views of the future; youth is pessimistic toward the present and gloriously hopeful for the future. And it is this hope which is the lever of progress—one might say, the only lever of progress.
— Randolph Bourne
More from Randolph Bourne
Indeed, it is not too much to say that the normal relation of States is war.
We cannot crusade against war without crusading implicitly against the State.
War is the health of the State.
The State is a jealous God and will brook no rivals. Its sovereignty must pervade everyone and all feeling must be run into the stereotyped forms of romantic patriotic militarism which is the traditional expression of the State …
How shall I describe Youth, the time of contradictions and anomalies? The fiercest radicalisms, the most dogged conservatisms, irrepressible gayety, bitter melancholy,—all these moods are equally part of that showery spring-time of life.
The modern State is not the rational and intelligent product of modern men desiring to live harmoniously together with security of life, property, and opinion. It is not an organization which has been devised as pragmatic means to a …