Quotable Harvard

From Harvard Magazine:

“Some may find the list below revealing of my biases,” he writes. “In particular, there is a tendency toward liberalism. In my own defense I note only that it is not easy to find quotations of a conservative nature by Harvard people. There are some—such as ‘Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible…there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes,’ from Learned Hand, LL.B. 1896, or ‘States like those [Iraq, Iran, and North Korea] and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, aiming to threaten the peace of the world,’ by David Frum, J.D. ’87, in a speech written for George W. Bush, M.B.A. ’75—but they are few and far between. I leave it to others to explain what historical and sociological factors may underlie a Crimson slant to the left, or whether there is some inherent correlation between political and quotational innovation in general.” ~The Editors

We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.—Louis D. Brandeis, LL.B. 1877,
quoted in Labor, October 14, 1941

There may be said to be two classes of people in the world: those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not.—Robert Benchley, A.B. 1912,
Of All Things (1921)

Nobody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from.—Margaret Atwood, A.M. ’62, Litt.D. ’04,
The Handmaid’s Tale (1986)

I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce, and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine.—John Adams, A.B. 1755, LL.D. 1781,
Letter to Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780

More here.