Negative Option

Famous quotes containing the words negative and/or option:

“The idealist’s programme of political or economic reform may be impracticable, absurd, demonstrably ridiculous; but it can never be successfully opposed merely by pointing out that this is the case. A negative opposition cannot be wholly effectual: there must be a competing idealism; something must be offered that is not only less objectionable but more desirable.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)

“A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)