Leadership Quote by Frank B. Kellogg

Progress gets framed here as both a concession and a shield. Frank B. Kellogg’s line is built to calm two audiences at once: reformers impatient for sweeping change and skeptics wary of moving too fast. The opening clause, “It is true,” performs statesmanship by admitting imperfection before anyone else can weaponize it. That admission sounds humble, but it’s also strategic: it narrows the debate from whether the effort is failing to how quickly it should proceed.

“Not all has been accomplished” quietly redefines success. Instead of measuring outcomes, the metric becomes trajectory. The phrase “earnest advocates” flatters the activists and policy champions, casting them as sincere rather than radical, yet the word choice also contains them. “Earnest” can imply well-meaning but unrealistic, a gentle way of suggesting that their desires exceed what institutions will currently allow.

Then comes the pivot that does the real work: “but a start has been made.” It’s the politician’s most durable promise because it asks for credit without specifying the next deliverable. A “start” is morally significant and politically convenient; it justifies continued negotiation, incrementalism, and patience, while implying that opposition now would be obstructionist.

Kellogg’s era was thick with reform-by-installment: progressive regulation, postwar diplomacy, and the churn of international agreements that looked noble on paper even when enforcement was thin. Read in that context, the quote functions as a pressure valve. It lowers the temperature, preserves coalition unity, and sanctifies partial victory as momentum. The subtext: accept the imperfect deal today, and keep the machinery running tomorrow.