A Quote for Tuesday

"Nations make their histories to fit their illusions. That is why reformers are so anxious to return to early America. What they know of it comes through the golden lies of school-books and [is] hallowed by the generous loyalty of their childhood. Men generally find in the past what they miss in the present."

Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery (New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1914), 173.