Custom and Convention
‹ 4 · Outline · 6 ›
5.The defense of tradition, prejudice and ancient institutions
5a.Prejudice and prescription as stored wisdom
See also: Law 6c · National Character 4 · Liberty 7b · Revolution 7a
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 65–66Tradition of Wen and Wu survives in the people.read · scan
Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8
- p. 375–377Ancestral tradition is wisdom old as time that no clever man's word can overturn.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 287–288Tradition is the true source of truth.read · scan
- p. 303The present Church is corrected by tradition from the ancient Church, which did not consider the future Church as we consider the ancient.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 374Contrasts early Christian practice with present laxity, where Church and world are blended.read · scan
- p. 375Church practice changed from delayed to early baptism, with consequent moral decline though the Church's spirit is unchanged.read · scan
- p. 376Church practices differ according to the times, from baptism after instruction to infant baptism.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to the English DictionaryVol. 39
- p. 185–186Recommends respecting the orthography of ancestors; stability outweighs slow improvements, since change brings inconvenience even from worse to better.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 163–165Contempt for ancient institutions in favor of present convenience is condemned; the English will not ape untried fashions.read · scan
- p. 170Reforms proceed by reverence to antiquity and analogical precedent; rights are treated as an inheritance from forefathers.read · scan
- p. 171Appeal to ancestors' usage and ancient rights over abstract theoryread · scan
- p. 172Reverence for ancestors and tradition guides political conduct against the spirit of innovationread · scan
- p. 173Reverence for age and descent supports civil institutionsread · scan
- p. 195Ancestral practice and precedent are dismissed by those with abstract rights.read · scan
- p. 222English cherish inherited sentiments and resist innovation; no discoveries to be made in morality or great principles of government.read · scan
- p. 222–223Burke cherishes prejudices because old; the general bank of nations and ages outweighs private reason.read · scan
- p. 223–224Reformers destroy old schemes merely because old, scorning the wisdom of others and of past ages.read · scan
- p. 224–225England would not change its law for popes' infallibility nor now for philosophers' dogmatism.read · scan
- p. 227Burke clings to establishments and resists discussing everything as if for altercation rather than enjoyment.read · scan
- p. 228Prejudice, the early received sense of mankind, is defended as containing wisdom rather than lacking reason.read · scan
- p. 231Present generations must not destroy inherited institutions at whim, else the continuity of the commonwealth breaks and men become like summer flies.read · scan
- p. 232Wise prejudice teaches caution against rash reform and inconstancy.read · scan
- p. 235The English adhere to antiquity, never departing from it entirely or at once, and amend institutions without altering their ground.read · scan
- p. 242–243Old pensions for service are held invalid while creditors' claims stand; inconsistent new public faith.read · scan
- p. 296–297Defends the ancient, permanent sense of mankind and prejudice against those who scorn tradition and set up society on new principles.read · scan
- p. 304–305Old institutions embody accumulated expedients rather than theory, contrasted with theoretic new systems.read · scan
- p. 376–377Reform should follow inherited practice, repairing in the style of the building.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24
- p. 397–398Defends old prejudices as supporting the social order.read · scan
- p. 407Prescription and ancient usage upheld as sacred against the rights of man.read · scan
- p. 417The prejudice of an old nobility rests on inveterate opinion and tradition, not mere positive institution.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 310–311Egmont praises his countrymen as attached to ancient customs, whom one must study rather than force.read · scan
- p. 311–312Egmont says the burgher wants rulers whose notions of right and wrong match his own; old noble privileges are accepted by long usage.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 387–391The noble Attinghausen loves the people and honours their old customs.read · scan
- p. 404–406The morning cup shared with servants after ancient custom of the house; the proverb 'one cup, one heart'.read · scan
- p. 413Alpine customs handed down unchanged from sire to son, like unvarying streams, make peasants resist change.read · scan
- p. 416–418They follow ancient usages of the Diet though informal, the ancient books graven in their hearts.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 87–88The old servant retains knowledge of the house's ancient traditions and ceremonials and praises the old way of living.read · scan
J. Wilson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1064Exiles remember clan banners, songs and traditions of their fathers' land.read · scan
5b.Custom as the basis of civil society and political stability
Aeschylus, The FuriesVol. 8
- p. 149–150Athena warns that changes and foul innovations in law spoil a city, as mud spoils a pure spring.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 40Egyptian customs inherited from fathers and not supplemented by others; the one song of Linos is shared with Greeks.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 57Ancestral custom and discipline kept Appius's household vigorous.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 259The old Latin and Roman custom of the consul opening Mars' gates to declare war is described.read · scan
- p. 270Primitive men lacked laws, manners, agriculture and thrift until Saturn taught civil customs.read · scan
- p. 412Juno asks that Latins keep their name, language and dress; Jove grants Latium's customs and rites, Troy's name to be forgotten.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 434–435False witnesses charge that Jesus will change the customs Moses delivered.read · scan
Plutarch, AristidesVol. 12
- p. 84–85Ostracism procedure: quorum of six thousand, sherds, ten years' banishment, abolished after abuse on Hyperbolus.read · scan
- p. 100–102Athenians preferred citizens of moderation faithful to their customs over dominion over all Greece.read · scan
Plutarch, CoriolanusVol. 12
- p. 158Candidates canvassed in the forum wearing only the toga, displaying wounds.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 224–225The people are offended because praetors customarily allowed the accused ten days.read · scan
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 103Good manners prevail more than good laws elsewhere.read · scan
- p. 111Horsemanship is handed down as ancestral custom, from children's pastimes to old men's pleasure.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 219Old decorum, where youths were introduced by consulars, has broken down; paid claques are the new fashion.read · scan
- p. 319Senatorial customs and usages were passed down from fathers to sons through observation.read · scan
- p. 319Senatorial usages were learned as custom through practice.read · scan
- p. 371–373Trajan urges persevering in the province's ancient custom of using public slaves as prison guards.read · scan
- p. 384–385Differing dedication ceremonies and ancient privileges are treated as binding usages.read · scan
- p. 394Practice of former proconsuls and Roman usage guide rulings on the transfer of remains.read · scan
- p. 412Long custom conflicts with the letter of the law admitting foreign senators.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 169Customs and offices in Florence are constantly changed.read · scan
Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35
- p. 60Servitude rests on old usage in England.read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36
- p. 7Prince should not depart from ancestral usages; long-established rule effaces causes of innovation.read · scan
- p. 9States alike in language and customs are easily absorbed; those differing in usages and laws are hard to hold.read · scan
- p. 16–17Memory of old princedoms fades with long rule, securing Roman tenure.read · scan
- p. 18Ancient laws and old order persist in memory and stir rebellion despite long servitude.read · scan
- p. 67Established ancient order of election makes the Soldan's princedom seem not new.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 142Old custom keeps them from enlarging their dominions.read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36
- p. 266Ecclesiastical law and pomp displaced the early practice of choosing bishops from the community.read · scan
- p. 324Each land's own character and usage should be preferred to imperial law.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 257Notes changes in church usage over time, such as translation of bishops between sees, settled by royal prescription rather than warrant.read · scan
- p. 298Renewing leases early has become almost a custom, defeating tenants.read · scan
- p. 366Halifax practice is an ancient local custom, with the whole crowd joining in pulling the pin.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 61Custom, though not good, is at least fit, but rigid retention of custom is as turbulent as innovation.read · scan
Francis Bacon, The New AtlantisVol. 3
- p. 159–160Contrasts the island's law with China's, which made the Chinese ignorant, fearful and foolish.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 179The rabble forgets antiquity and custom, the ratifiers and props of every word.read · scan
John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43
- p. 85Constant practice proves a custom, inviolable when for common good.read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34
- p. 12–13Custom has smoothed the inconveniences of states, like well-worn highways.read · scan
John Milton, AreopagiticaVol. 3
- p. 205Regulating printing would require regulating all music, dancing, songs and pastimes that shape manners, an absurd, endless task.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 104Established customs originate in usurpation, yet have become reasonable and should not be examined at their source.read · scan
- p. 106Ancient laws are followed because they remove the root of difference, not because they are sounder.read · scan
William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 352–353Slack government corrupts manners of the people and destroys industry.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 78–79The clergy retain Romish ceremonies and tithes and inspire zeal against Dissenters.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 165–166Moral inequality rests on convention and the common consent of mankind.read · scan
- p. 180–181Vocal sounds becoming conventional interpreters of ideas requires an agreement that itself presupposes some language.read · scan
- p. 201Mutual engagements were kept only as present interest required, and conventional sounds formed languages.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 184Old farming system persists partly through ignorance and attachment to old customs, mostly through natural obstructions.read · scan
- p. 308Manners and customs from original governments forced states into this unnatural, retrograde order.read · scan
- p. 457Resident ambassadors in peacetime are a custom unknown to ancient times, arising from the spread of commerce in Europe.read · scan
- p. 472Manners and customs of the times prepared the people for war without cost to the sovereign.read · scan
- p. 506Feudal casualties as taxes on land transfer were a former European custom that supplied crown revenue.read · scan
- p. 506–507Feudal law's reliefs, wardship and fines on alienation burdened heirs and minors, and some survive as sovereign revenue.read · scan
- p. 523–524Customs were named as customary payments used from time immemorial.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 158–159Statutes follow the traditionary language and policy of the nation, repeated from earlier acts.read · scan
- p. 196Share of political power is settled by convention, not original right.read · scan
- p. 197Civil society is the offspring of convention, which must be its law.read · scan
- p. 214A nation needs a system of manners to be loved; our country ought to be lovely.read · scan
- p. 215European civilization depended on old manners and opinions; removing them leaves us without a compass.read · scan
- p. 216Ancient manners underlie learning and trade; France influences English manners across Europe.read · scan
- p. 233Public worship in buildings, music and speech follows the customs of mankind taught by nature.read · scan
- p. 272Honours and privileges grow from laws, opinions and inveterate usages; institutions give body to opinion and permanence to esteem.read · scan
- p. 305–306Old boundaries settled by accident, use and habit supplied remedies; the new square geometry ignores habituation.read · scan
- p. 315Destroying old habits and connections removes the natural discipline that makes a republic durable.read · scan
- p. 328Divisions formed by habit and old prejudice attach hearts, unlike divisions imposed by sudden authority.read · scan
- p. 350–352Destroying opinions, prejudices and instincts that support government leaves only force.read · scan
- p. 373Good order requires natural subordination; the magistrate must have reverence and the laws authority, and the people must respect property.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 79–81Customs and laws spread from race to race like a hereditary curse.read · scan
- p. 175–177Mephistopheles cites an ancient custom of creating lesser worlds within the great world.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 262–263People prefer governance by countrymen according to ancient customs rather than foreigners.read · scan
Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, The Federalist, Nos. I and IIVol. 43
- p. 204–205The people share ancestry, language, religion, principles of government, manners and customs, supporting unity.read · scan
George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43
- p. 236Americans share the same religion, manners, habits and political principles.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 329A society's customs, laws and politics flow from its governing Idea.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The PoetVol. 5
- p. 179–180Banks, newspapers and sects seem dull but share the foundations of wonder of ancient institutions.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5
- p. 239Every law and usage was once one man's expedient and can be altered or improved.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 370–371English keep old customs, pomps and ceremonies; antiquity of usage is sanction enough, habit ten times nature.read · scan
- p. 402Tradition and taste, heraldry and chivalry, hold the popular conservative imagination against politics.read · scan
- p. 426Tradition and public order sustain the church; religion becomes part of good-breeding.read · scan
- p. 430The English abhor change in religion and cling to form and cant.read · scan
- p. 441–442English bound by conditions and tradition, incapable of inutility, accepting antiquity as praise.read · scan
- p. 472England committed to old customs that cannot be suddenly changed.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, DemocracyVol. 28
- p. 453–454Native tradition and public town assemblies keep local finance sound; foreign charges against American manners rebuffed.read · scan
- p. 459–461The framers valued tradition and habit as allies of permanence and refused to break with the past.read · scan
Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic RacesVol. 32
- p. 137An ancient race remains faithful to its tongue, memories and customs, threatened by uniform civilisation.read · scan
- p. 172–173Local practices and the customs of the past endure in Celtic Christianity; clergy defend them against Protestantism.read · scan
5c.Reverence for antiquity and its limits in science and learning
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 10Old manners cannot be attested for lack of books and great men.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 82Bildad appeals to the wisdom of former ages and fathers' inquiry.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 28Reduce things to the first institution, consult ancient and modern time, and imitate examples.read · scan
- p. 43–45Over-great reverence of traditions and petty observances burden the church.read · scan
Ben Jonson, The AlchemistVol. 47
- p. 594Ananias rejects tradition as popish, while Subtle claims the stone's tradition comes from spirits.read · scan
William Harvey, On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in AnimalsVol. 38
- p. 62–64Error is not made respectable by the highest antiquity; tradition should yield to demonstration.read · scan
- p. 100–101Harvey fears enmity because custom becomes second nature and respect for antiquity leads men to resist a novel doctrine.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 197–198Ceremonies and rites like sacrifices and circumcision were disregarded by God.read · scan
- p. 310–311Reason as a guide in all sects contrasted with tradition.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 437Excessive reverence for antiquity makes its obscurities oracles and makes novelties perilous; an author's text overrides strong reasons.read · scan
- p. 440–441Reverence for antiquity should be measured by reason, which gave it birth.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 130Time makes an author's faults venerable, and imitators are hissed for what is applauded in the original.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to ShakespeareVol. 39
- p. 212–213Ancient poets separated tragedy and comedy by laws custom had prescribed.read · scan
- p. 232Part of his praise is given by custom and veneration rather than judgment; we overlook his faults.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Introduction to the PropyläenVol. 39
- p. 259–260Moderns call the ancients teachers yet depart from their maxims in theory and practice.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 416Oxford redolent of age and authority, governed by Laud's statutes, chaining books, shutting gates against innovation.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, What Is a Classic?Vol. 32
- p. 122A classic implies continuance, unity and tradition that fashions and transmits itself and endures.read · scan
- p. 123–124The eighteenth century reconciled tradition with freedom of development; academies imposed fixed rules against romantic novelty.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, The Study of PoetryVol. 28
- p. 68The public skips from famous name to name in obedience to tradition and habit, ignorant of the poetry's growth.read · scan
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