William Beveridge Quotes

13 Sourced Quotes

The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers or of races, but the happiness of the common man.

William Beveridge
Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens.

William Beveridge
Scratch a pessimist and you find often a defender of privilege.

William Beveridge
A cockle-fish may as soon crowd the ocean into its narrow shell, as vain man ever comprehend the decrees of God!

William Beveridge
Any proposals for the future, while they should use to the full the experience gathered in the past, should not be restricted by consideration of sectional interests established in the obtaining of that experience. Now, when the war is abolishing landmarks of every kind, is the opportunity for using experience in a clear field. A revolutionary moment in the world's history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.

William Beveridge
Full employment does not mean literally no unemployment; that is to say, it does not mean that every man and woman in the country who is fit and free for work is employed productively every day of his or her working life... Full employment means that unemployment is reduced to short intervals of standing by, with the certainty that very soon one will be wanted in one's old job again or will be wanted in a new job that is within one's powers.

William Beveridge
Organisation of social insurance should be treated as one part only of a comprehensive policy of social progress. Social insurance fully developed may provide income security; it is an attack upon Want. But Want is one only of five giants on the road of reconstruction and in some ways the easiest to attack. The others are Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.

William Beveridge
There is no inherent mechanism in our present system which can with certainty prevent competitive sectional bargaining for wages from setting up a vicious spiral of rising prices under full employment.

William Beveridge
No one believes an hypothesis except its originator but everyone believes an experiment except the experimenter.

William Beveridge
The trouble in modern democracy is that men do not approach to leadership 'til they have lost the desire to lead anyone.

William Beveridge
The state is or can be master of money, but in a free society it is master of very little else.

William Beveridge
The adventure of full employment in a free society is not like the directed flight of an aircraft on a beam. It is a voyage among shifting and dangerous currents. All that can be done is to see that the craft is well found, and that the pilot has all the necessary controls, and the instruments to guide his use of them.

William Beveridge
Social security must be achieved by co-operation between the State and the individual. The State should offer security for service and contribution. The State in organising security should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility ; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.

William Beveridge