Lincoln Steffens Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“I never heard a Christian sermon preached in a church.”

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

“Nothing fails like success.”

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

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

“Whenever anything extraordinary is done in American municipal politics, whether for good or for evil, you can trace it almost invariably to one man. The people do not do it. Neither do the 'gangs,' 'combines,' or political parties.”

“Most men think graft a sporadic evil, breaking out here and there, with no connection between outbreaks. I shared the same opinion, but very soon I discovered that the graft in the cities always leads to the graft in the State.”

“The typical American citizen is the business man. The typical business man is a bad citizen; he is busy. If he is a 'big business man' and very busy, he does not neglect; he is busy with politics, oh, very busy and very businesslike.”

“If we would leave parties to the politicians, and would vote not for the party, not even for men, but for the city, and the State, and the nation, we should rule parties, and cities, and States, and nation.”

“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.”