Commentary by management consultant Michael Wade on Leadership, Ethics, Management, and Life
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Quote of the Day
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. - Abraham Lincoln
2 comments:
LA Grant
said...
This is what I wrote about this elsewhere:
Lincoln's quote was delivered to reflect the circumstances of the Civil War, and as a call that something different must be tried when one is faced with an emerging disaster, it's indisputable.
At the same time, the quote is inaccurate in suggesting that the dogmas of the past have nothing to offer the new circumstances. It's hardly new, for instance, that governments turn to the use of force when peaceable means fail to settle disputes. New as a means for settling America's internal disputes in 1861, perhaps, but not new to history at any time since the record of history began to be kept.
The quote is also too open-ended. At what point, if ever, is it acceptable to return to the old dogmas? Even Lincoln must have anticipated reestablishing complete rule by the principles of the Constitution at some point after the defeat of the Confederacy. Given what is known of his sentiments, it's impossible to imagine that Lincoln was advocating discarding the founder's work for a new system. (Still, Lincoln is the spiritual father of modern bureaucracy that has expanded in every was and never returned to its prewar limits.)
What this quote proves in this election season is that even Lincoln engaged in boilerplate.
And unfortunately, because it has the apparent stamp of the Great Orator's approval, this and similar quotes are now used instead of careful and thoughtful planning by those people who would like to overturn the proven if occasionally inapplicable lessons of the past in favor of broad and unending experimentation whose outcome is not known. Why does this process always seem to move in only one direction?
Very interesting observations. Lincoln, being a political genius, would have been wary of the open-ended interpretations and yet there are those who seek to turn his remarks into a blank check.
2 comments:
This is what I wrote about this elsewhere:
Lincoln's quote was delivered to reflect the circumstances of the Civil War, and as a call that something different must be tried when one is faced with an emerging disaster, it's indisputable.
At the same time, the quote is inaccurate in suggesting that the dogmas of the past have nothing to offer the new circumstances. It's hardly new, for instance, that governments turn to the use of force when peaceable means fail to settle disputes. New as a means for settling America's internal disputes in 1861, perhaps, but not new to history at any time since the record of history began to be kept.
The quote is also too open-ended. At what point, if ever, is it acceptable to return to the old dogmas? Even Lincoln must have anticipated reestablishing complete rule by the principles of the Constitution at some point after the defeat of the Confederacy. Given what is known of his sentiments, it's impossible to imagine that Lincoln was advocating discarding the founder's work for a new system. (Still, Lincoln is the spiritual father of modern bureaucracy that has expanded in every was and never returned to its prewar limits.)
What this quote proves in this election season is that even Lincoln engaged in boilerplate.
And unfortunately, because it has the apparent stamp of the Great Orator's approval, this and similar quotes are now used instead of careful and thoughtful planning by those people who would like to overturn the proven if occasionally inapplicable lessons of the past in favor of broad and unending experimentation whose outcome is not known. Why does this process always seem to move in only one direction?
Larry,
Very interesting observations. Lincoln, being a political genius, would have been wary of the open-ended interpretations and yet there are those who seek to turn his remarks into a blank check.
Michael
Post a Comment