Bergen Evans Quotes & Sayings

An honorable man will not be bullied by a hypothesis. — Bergen Evans

Leadership is more likely to be assumed by the aggressive than by the able, and those who scramble to the top are more often motivated by their own inner torments. — Bergen Evans

It (the dash ) is a comfortable punctuation mark since even the most rigorous critic can seldom claim that any particular example of it is a misuse. Its overuse is its greatest danger, and the writer who can't resist dashes may be suspected of uncoordinated thinking. — Bergen Evans

That is the essence of a witch-hunt, that any questioning of the evidence or the procedures in itself constitutes proof of complicity. — Bergen Evans

We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us. — Bergen Evans

Words are one of our chief means of adjusting to all the situations of life. The better control we have over words, the more successful our adjustment is likely to be. — Bergen Evans

We see what we want to see, and observation conforms to hypothesis. — Bergen Evans

Most civilized lives are measured out with coffee spoons. — Bergen Evans

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable. — Bergen Evans

Speech is highly elliptical. It would scarcely be endurable otherwise. Ellipsis is indispensable to the writer or speaker who wants to be brief and pithy, but it can easily cause confusion and obscurity and must be used with skill. — Bergen Evans

The civilized man has a moral obligation to be skeptical, to demand the credentials of all statements that claim to be facts. — Bergen Evans

For the most part our leaders are merely following out in front; they do but marshal us the way that we are going. — Bergen Evans

Many studies have established the fact that there is a high correlation between vocabulary and intelligence and that the ability to increase one's vocabulary throughout life is a sure reflection of intellectual progress. — Bergen Evans

Legislators who are of even average intelligence stand out among their colleagues ... A cultured college president has become as much a rarity as a literate newspaper publisher. A financier interested in economics is as exceptional as a labor leader interested in the labor movement. For the most part our leaders are merely following out in front; they [only] marshal us in the way that we are going. — Bergen Evans

There is wisdom in the selection of wisdom ... — Bergen Evans

Freedom of speech and freedom of action are meaningless without freedom to think. And there is no freedom of thought without doubt. — Bergen Evans

Authors are magpies, echoing each other's words and seizing avidly on anything that glitters. — Bergen Evans

Stoicism is the wisdom of madness and cynicism the madness of wisdom. — Bergen Evans

The mere abhorrence of vice is not a virtue at all. — Bergen Evans