On the record
No man of intelligence can hope, in this age of the world, to perpetuate that which is wrong and destructive, by bravado and threatening--by refusing to look it in the face, or to allow others to scrutinize it.
Source
gutenberg.orgWilliam Seward: “No man of intelligence can hope, in this age of the world, to perpetuate that which is wrong and destructive, by bravado…”
Editor's note · Context
Seward emphasizes the importance of confronting uncomfortable truths rather than avoiding them.
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More from William Seward
Stoicism, that had no charity for error, never converted any human society to virtue; Christianity, that remembers the true nature of man, has encompassed a large portion of the globe.
For the rest, the work of emancipation abides the action, whether it be slow or fast, of the moral sense of the American people.
The recital of heroic actions loses its chief value, if we cannot discover the principles in which they were born.
Slavery therefore must be restrained, and, without violence or injustice, must be abolished.
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