Quotes by Lincoln Steffens

About Lincoln Steffens:

Lincoln Joseph Steffens is remembered for investigating corruption in municipal government in American cities and for his early support for the Soviet Union.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Art is like a border of flowers along the course of civilization.

Lincoln Steffens

An educated mind is nothing but the God-given mind of a child after his parents’ and his grandparents’ generation have got through molding it. We can’t help teaching you; you will ask that of us; but we are prone to teach you what we know, and ...

Lincoln Steffens

The longer I live, the more I feel that the individual is not so much to blame - not even the worst individuals, not even the 'best' citizens - as the system of corruption which has grown up about us, and which rewards an honest man with a mere livin...

Lincoln Steffens

Morality is only moral when it is voluntary.

Lincoln Steffens

My father, the practical joker, did not care for practical jokes on himself; he did not encourage the practice in me.

Lincoln Steffens

My mother would thump me sharply on the head with a thimble or a spoon if I became too noisy with the whistle when I was playing I was a steamboat captain. She had no sense of the dignity of command.

Lincoln Steffens

I let my boy go and do and say pretty much as he likes, as, and perhaps because, my father kept no string on me.

Lincoln Steffens

The spirit of graft and of lawlessness is the American spirit.

Lincoln Steffens

My father made with me one serious mistake which I see parents about me making. He got himself somehow into the awkward position of an authority; I thought he knew and was right on everything - for a while.

Lincoln Steffens

The misgovernment of the American people is misgovernment by the American people.

Lincoln Steffens

I never heard a Christian sermon preached in a church.

Lincoln Steffens

I am really puzzled to understand myself.

Lincoln Steffens

My father would invite me sweetly to come and sit on a stool at his feet, and, as I let myself trustingly down, he would gently kick the seat from under me - and laugh.

Lincoln Steffens

The Russian people, sober, are said to be a gentle people.

Lincoln Steffens

If my father could watch my son for a while, he might realize his own immortality.

Lincoln Steffens

My father required me to honor my father and my mother too much to put up games on them. I did on occasion.

Lincoln Steffens

My father seemed always to know not only what I was doing, but what I was being.

Lincoln Steffens

The doctrine of Jesus is the most revolutionary propaganda that I have ever encountered.

Lincoln Steffens

My father was slower, but he was severer than my mother, who was quick but light and irregular in discipline.

Lincoln Steffens

morality is moral only when it is voluntary

Lincoln Steffens

Author Bio

  • NameLincoln Steffens
  • DescriptionAmerican journalist
  • BornApril 6, 1866
  • DiedAugust 9, 1936
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionJournalist; Autobiographer