Roger Scruton Quotes
Roger Scruton was a British philosopher, public intellectual, and the foremost philosophical exponent of conservative thought in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The Meaning of Conservatism set out a Hegelian and Burkean defense of inherited institutions, custom, and the bonds of place, while his Aesthetics of Music, Beauty, and his many essays on architecture argued for the moral and political significance of the aesthetic. The quotes below are attributed to Roger Scruton, organized by topic.
Roger Scruton on Death
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“Dead? I demand a second opinion', The Times (29 March 1983), p. 12”
Attitudes to death go hand in hand with attitudes to sex. And it is in the sphere of sex that some of the greatest of medical confusions have arisen. I refer in particular to the " sex change " – again, an operation which has exhilarated the public, with its implication that sexuality is an elaborate accident, which can be tailored to the individual need. A person's sexuality is no longer regarded
Roger Scruton on God
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“An international socialism is the stated ideal of most socialists; an international liberalism is the unstated tendency of the liberal. To neither system is it thinkable that men live, not by universal aspirations but by local attachments; not by a “solidarity” that stretches across the globe from end to end, but by obligations that are understood in terms which separate men from most of their fellows—in terms such as national history, religion, language, and the customs that provide the basis of legitimacy.”
How to be a Non-Liberal, Anti-Socialist Conservative," Intercollegiate Review: A Journal of Scholarship and Opinion (Spring 1993)
Roger Scruton on Justice
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“A developed legal system, with elaborate common law rights, and supported by a system of natural justice , was the most precious legacy of our empire . If it were still permissible to defend colonization , I should justify it in terms of this bequest, and at the same time contrast the colonization of Africa with the Soviet "colonization" of eastern Europe, which has advanced not by the generation but by the destruction of law.”
A colonial inheritance once again cast off', The Times (6 September 1983), p. 10
Roger Scruton on Knowledge
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“A lift at last for the other Afrikaners', The Times (17 May 1983), p. 12”
It goes without saying that apartheid is offensive. It was adopted, however, as the lesser of two evils. The Afrikaners believe that black majority rule has, in almost every case, led to the collapse of the constitutional government which they brought to South Africa , and upon which their freedoms and privileges – and perhaps even their lives – depend. And it did not seem so very bad to deny to b -
“A colonial inheritance once again cast off', The Times (6 September 1983), p. 10”
A developed legal system, with elaborate common law rights, and supported by a system of natural justice , was the most precious legacy of our empire . If it were still permissible to defend colonization , I should justify it in terms of this bequest, and at the same time contrast the colonization of Africa with the Soviet "colonization" of eastern Europe, which has advanced not by the generation -
“A socialist evil to rival racism', The Times (28 February 1984), p. 14”
Race is at best an influence on behaviour, not the moral source of it. It is the individual alone who acts, and he alone who should bear the benefits and the burdens of moral judgment. In all questions of right and duty, it is both wicked and nonsensical to refer to a person's race – whether the purpose be to accuse him, or to exonerate him. To do so is to place the crucial attribute of responsibi -
“In Defence of the Nation', The Philosopher on Dover Beach (1990), p. 310”
Of course, there are those — Sandel , Walzer and Dworkin , for example — who propose "communitarian" ways of thinking, as a further move in the direction which a sophisticated liberalism requires. But none of them is prepared to accept the real price of community: which is sanctity, intolerance, exclusion, and a sense that life's meaning depends upon obedience, and also on vigilance against the en -
“How to be a Non-Liberal, Anti-Socialist Conservative," Intercollegiate Review: A Journal of Scholarship and Opinion (Spring 1993)”
An international socialism is the stated ideal of most socialists; an international liberalism is the unstated tendency of the liberal. To neither system is it thinkable that men live, not by universal aspirations but by local attachments; not by a “solidarity” that stretches across the globe from end to end, but by obligations that are understood in terms which separate men from most of their fel
Roger Scruton on Life
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“Of course, there are those — Sandel , Walzer and Dworkin , for example — who propose "communitarian" ways of thinking, as a further move in the direction which a sophisticated liberalism requires. But none of them is prepared to accept the real price of community: which is sanctity, intolerance, exclusion, and a sense that life's meaning depends upon obedience, and also on vigilance against the enemy.”
In Defence of the Nation', The Philosopher on Dover Beach (1990), p. 310
Roger Scruton on Love
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Attributed to Roger Scruton:
“Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder; it is in the world that the beholder loves.”
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Attributed to Roger Scruton:
“To love a thing is also to wish to defend it.”
Roger Scruton on Politics
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Attributed to Roger Scruton:
“Conservatism is the philosophy of attachment.”
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Attributed to Roger Scruton:
“The most important things in life are inherited, not chosen.”
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“Culture is the way a society confronts the eternal questions: who we are, where we come from, and what we owe each other.”
A civilization is a social entity that manifests religious, political , legal, and customary uniformity over an extended period, and which confers on its members the benefits of socially accumulated knowledge. -
“It goes without saying that apartheid is offensive. It was adopted, however, as the lesser of two evils. The Afrikaners believe that black majority rule has, in almost every case, led to the collapse of the constitutional government which they brought to South Africa , and upon which their freedoms and privileges – and perhaps even their lives – depend. And it did not seem so very bad to deny to blacks a vote which they would, when in power, promptly deny to themselves.”
A lift at last for the other Afrikaners', The Times (17 May 1983), p. 12