Lib Quotes
  • Authors
  • Topics
  • Lists
  • Pictures
  • Resources
  • More about Ernest Gellner

Ernest Gellner - Institutions Quotes

3 Sourced Quotes

View all Ernest Gellner Quotes
    • Source
    • Report...
The model that can be drawn up, of a plural society in which the multiplicity of forces and institutions prevent any one of their number dominating the rest, and which function on the basis of a broad and non-doctrinaire consensus — this picture does not warm the blood like wine. To appreciate and savour its appeal, one needs a rather sophisticated taste, perhaps.

Ernest Gellner
    • Source
    • Report...
Civil Society is a cluster of institutions and associations strong enough to prevent tyranny, but which are, none the less, entered and left freely, rather than imposed by birth or sustained by awesome ritual. You can join the Labour Party without slaughtering a sheep...

Ernest Gellner
    • Source
    • Report...
Looking at the contemporary world, two things are obvious: democracy is doing rather badly, and democracy is doing very well. New states are born free, yet everywhere they are in chains. Democracy is doing very badly in that democratic institutions have fallen by the wayside in very many of the newly independent 'transitional' societies, and they are precarious elsewhere. Democracy, on the other hand, is doing extremely well in so far as it is almost (though not quite) universally accepted as a valid norm.

Ernest Gellner

Quote of the day

Policemen so cherish their status as keepers of the peace and protectors of the public that they have occasionally been known to beat to death those citizens or groups who question that status.
David Mamet

Ernest Gellner

Ernest Gellner
Creative Commons

Born: December 9, 1925
Died: November 5, 1995 (aged 69)
More about Ernest Gellner...

Featured Authors

Michel de MontaigneElvis PresleyWilliam ShakespeareMartin LutherPope John Paul IIStephen HawkingTerenceGroucho MarxMontesquieuBob DylanBertolt BrechtFyodor Dostoyevsky

Lists

Predictions that didn't happen

Predictions that didn't happen

If it's on the Internet it must be true

If it's on the Internet it must be true

Remarkable Last Words (or Near-Last Words)

Remarkable Last Words (or Near-Last Words)

Picture Quotes

If you see what is right and fail to act on it, you lack courage.

Confucius

I have a heart with room for every joy.

Philip James Bailey

Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive.

Eleanor Roosevelt

A great change in life is like a cold bath in winter — we all hesitate at the first plunge.

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Popular Topics

  • life
  • love
  • nature
  • time
  • god
  • power
  • human
  • mind
  • work
  • art
  • heart
  • thought
  • men
  • day
Lib Quotes

100% Sourced Quotes.

Our motto is: Don't quote it if you can't source it.

Contact us

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • X (Twitter)
  • Pinterest

Recent

Predictions that didn't happen

If it's on the Internet it must be true

Remarkable Last Words (or Near-Last Words)

Subscribe to our Newsletter:
Quote of the Day
JS and WordPress
Subscribe
to RSS Feeds
© 2017-2025 LibQuotes
Terms of Use / Privacy Policy / About Us

Lib Quotes