"Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil. Our great hope lies in developing what is good"
About this Quote
Calvin Coolidge, often reduced to the persona of Silent Cal, built his politics on a sturdy moral realism. He understood that laws and prohibitions can restrain harm, but they do not generate the habits, affections, and institutions that make a society flourish. The line captures a strategic and ethical shift: instead of waging a perpetual war against vice, invest energy in cultivating virtue so that vice loses its foothold.
The 1920s context matters. Prohibition tried to repress a perceived evil through legal bans; it achieved some gains but also fueled black markets and corruption. Coolidge, though respectful of law and order, consistently emphasized character, responsibility, and the formative power of families, churches, schools, and voluntary associations. He favored limited government not because he dismissed moral concerns, but because he believed the deepest moral work happens outside the state, where virtues can be taught, modeled, and chosen rather than compelled.
The insight scales from the personal to the civic. An individual consumed with stamping out a single bad habit often finds the vacuum quickly refilled. Replace the habit with positive practices and communities, and reform endures. A city does not reduce crime by enforcement alone; it widens paths to legitimate work, strengthens neighborhoods, and invests in trust. Censorship cannot produce wise citizens; literacy, critical thinking, and a culture of honest debate can. Even in foreign affairs, lasting peace grows from commerce, respect, and mutual interest more readily than from threats.
Coolidge does not deny the need to restrain what is destructive; he ranks it as necessary but insufficient. Hope, in his formulation, belongs to the constructors more than the jailers. Build what is good and the space for evil narrows. That is both a moral stance and a practical blueprint: plant strong institutions and habits, and the weeds have less light.
The 1920s context matters. Prohibition tried to repress a perceived evil through legal bans; it achieved some gains but also fueled black markets and corruption. Coolidge, though respectful of law and order, consistently emphasized character, responsibility, and the formative power of families, churches, schools, and voluntary associations. He favored limited government not because he dismissed moral concerns, but because he believed the deepest moral work happens outside the state, where virtues can be taught, modeled, and chosen rather than compelled.
The insight scales from the personal to the civic. An individual consumed with stamping out a single bad habit often finds the vacuum quickly refilled. Replace the habit with positive practices and communities, and reform endures. A city does not reduce crime by enforcement alone; it widens paths to legitimate work, strengthens neighborhoods, and invests in trust. Censorship cannot produce wise citizens; literacy, critical thinking, and a culture of honest debate can. Even in foreign affairs, lasting peace grows from commerce, respect, and mutual interest more readily than from threats.
Coolidge does not deny the need to restrain what is destructive; he ranks it as necessary but insufficient. Hope, in his formulation, belongs to the constructors more than the jailers. Build what is good and the space for evil narrows. That is both a moral stance and a practical blueprint: plant strong institutions and habits, and the weeds have less light.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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