Quote#Wisdom
Their problem was how to adapt English principles and precedents to…
Quote byJames Russell Lowell · 1819–1891
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: On Democracy (6 October 1884).
English (original)
Their problem was how to adapt English principles and precedents to the new conditions of American life, and they solved it with singular discretion. They put as many obstacles as they could contrive, not in the way of the people's will, but of their whim.
— James Russell Lowell
More from James Russell Lowell
The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers, is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.
They came three thousand miles, and died, To keep the Past upon its throne; Unheard, beyond the ocean tide, Their English mother made her moan.
There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates.
It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
From lower to the higher next, Not to the top, is Nature’s text; And embryo Good, to reach full stature, Absorbs the Evil in its nature.
When I was a beggarly boy, And lived in a cellar damp, I had not a friend nor a toy, But I had Aladdin's lamp.