The survival of American democracy depends less on the size of its armies than on the capacity of its individual citizens to rely… on the strength of their own thought.

About Lewis H. Lapham

Lewis Henry Lapham II (; January 8, 1935 – July 23, 2024) was an American writer. He was the editor of the American monthly Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006. He was the founder of Lapham's Quarterly, a publication about history and literature, and wrote...

More quotations from Lewis H. Lapham

Without meaning to belittle the wonders of science, I do not think they can absolve mankind of suffering, desire, madness, and death.

—Lewis H. Lapham

Money is like fire, an element as little troubled by moralizing as earth, air, and water. Men can employ it as a tool, or they can dance around it as if it were the incarnation of a god. Money votes socialist or monarchist, finds a profit in pornography or translations from the Bible, commissions Rembrandt and underwrites the technology of Auschwitz. It acquires its meaning from the uses to which it is put.

—Lewis H. Lapham

technology morality money fire Bible socialism monarchy pornography

A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. The spectacle is nearly always comic.

—Lewis H. Lapham

politics humor dandyism morality wealth

History

1 Jan 2016 Added
26 Oct 2026 Wording changed

Previous wording

The survival of American democracy depends less on the size of its armies than on the capacity of its individual citizens to rely . . . on the strength of their own thought.