Henry Adams

society wrack reform rotten institutions fraud

"The whole fabric of society will go to wrack if we really lay hands of reform on our rotten institutions. From top to bottom the whole system is a fraud, all of us know it, laborers and capitalists alike, and all of us are consenting parties to it."

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

chaos breeds life order habit

“Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.”

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

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“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.”

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

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“No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.”

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

science master man engines beyond control human suicide

"I firmly believe, that before many centuries more, science will be the master of man. The engines he will have invented will be beyond his strength to control. Someday, science shall have the existence of mankind in its power, and the human race commit suicide by blowing up the world."

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

parent life murder teacher eternity influence

“A parent gives life, but as parent, gives no more. A murderer takes life, but his deed stops there. A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

friend power lost

“A friend in power is a friend lost.”

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

education astonishing ignorance accumulate inert fact

“Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.”

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

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"The press is the hired agent of a monied system, and set up for no other purpose than to tell lies where their interests are involved. One can trust nobody and nothing."

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)

congressman pig snout trough rap stick

"A congressman is a pig. The only way to get his snout from the trough is to rap it sharply with a stick."

—Henry Adams (1838-1918)