Three quotes from this blog's guiding inspirations

"A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors."

-- Edmund Burke (1729-1797), English statesman and the grandfather of modern conservative thought.

"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of man will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint."

-- Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), American Founding Father and early leader of the Federalist Party, America's first conservative political party.

"If a conservative order is indeed to return, we ought to know the tradition which is attached to it, so that we may rebuild society; if it is not to be restored, still we ought to understand conservative ideas so that we may rake from the ashes what scorched fragments of civilizations escape the conflagration of unchecked will and appetite."

-- Russell Kirk (1918-1994), American writer and social critic, one of the formative thinkers in post-World War II American conservatism.