"If we cannot by reason, by influence, by example, by strenuous effort, and by personal sacrifice, mend the bad places of civilization, we certainly cannot do it by force"
About this Quote
Auberon Herbert argues that the only reliable instruments for improving society are voluntary ones: reason, influence, example, strenuous effort, and personal sacrifice. If these fail to win hearts and change habits, he contends, coercion will not succeed either. Compulsion may command compliance, but it cannot produce conviction; it can redirect behavior, but it cannot instill judgment, trust, or responsibility. A social order genuinely mended must be chosen and understood, not imposed.
Herbert spoke from the late Victorian world, amid fierce debates over poverty, temperance, education, labor, and the expanding state. A former Member of Parliament and a disciple of Herbert Spencer, he became the leading voice of voluntaryism, most clearly in The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State. He opposed both socialist schemes and paternalist moral laws, not out of indifference to suffering, but from the belief that coercive solutions erode the moral energy and mutual respect on which lasting reforms depend. The means we use prefigure the ends we achieve. Try to build a free and cooperative society with threats, and you cultivate fear, resentment, and dependency rather than character and initiative.
His claim also rests on a practical insight. Social problems are complex, local, and lived; they require knowledge, sympathy, and adaptation that cannot be commanded from above. Persuasion and example mobilize dispersed knowledge and invite ownership; force suppresses feedback and breeds resistance. If a proposal cannot gather assent through open argument and visible proof of benefit, that failure is a warning that the proposal lacks legitimacy or maturity. Compulsion does not repair that deficit; it hides it.
Herbert did not deny the need to restrain aggression. His target was the use of force as a tool for moral or social improvement. The line remains a rebuke to technocratic impatience and culture-war certainty, and a call to the patient, costly work of persuasion, service, and exemplary conduct.
Herbert spoke from the late Victorian world, amid fierce debates over poverty, temperance, education, labor, and the expanding state. A former Member of Parliament and a disciple of Herbert Spencer, he became the leading voice of voluntaryism, most clearly in The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State. He opposed both socialist schemes and paternalist moral laws, not out of indifference to suffering, but from the belief that coercive solutions erode the moral energy and mutual respect on which lasting reforms depend. The means we use prefigure the ends we achieve. Try to build a free and cooperative society with threats, and you cultivate fear, resentment, and dependency rather than character and initiative.
His claim also rests on a practical insight. Social problems are complex, local, and lived; they require knowledge, sympathy, and adaptation that cannot be commanded from above. Persuasion and example mobilize dispersed knowledge and invite ownership; force suppresses feedback and breeds resistance. If a proposal cannot gather assent through open argument and visible proof of benefit, that failure is a warning that the proposal lacks legitimacy or maturity. Compulsion does not repair that deficit; it hides it.
Herbert did not deny the need to restrain aggression. His target was the use of force as a tool for moral or social improvement. The line remains a rebuke to technocratic impatience and culture-war certainty, and a call to the patient, costly work of persuasion, service, and exemplary conduct.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
|---|
More Quotes by Auberon
Add to List
