Lincoln Steffens Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“You ask men in office to be honest; I ask them to serve the public.”

“If our political leaders are to be always a lot of political merchants, they will supply any demand we may create. All we have to do is to establish a steady demand for good government.”

“Boston has carried the practice of hypocrisy to the n-th degree of refinement, grace, and failure.”

“I am really puzzled to understand myself.”

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

“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.”

“Chicago will give you a chance. The sporting spirit is the spirit of Chicago.”

“I have been contending all my life, and always with God.”

“I have been over into the future, and it works.”

“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.”